Miguel Vargas saved his biggest work for the late innings Thursday, turning two defensive moments at third base into the backbone of the White Sox’s 3-1 win over Detroit at Rate Field.
The victory pulled Chicago even with Cleveland at the top of the American League Central. Both clubs stand at 78-75 with nine games remaining, while the White Sox own the head-to-head tiebreaker after taking the season series from the Guardians.
Vargas closes the door at third
Detroit had two outs in the eighth inning when Max Clark sent a tough chopper toward Vargas with the tying run coming to the plate. Vargas went up to keep the ball in front of him, but his throw to first was not in time to retire Clark.
That was only the beginning of the play. Vargas hustled back to third as first baseman Munetaka Murakami fired the ball across the infield. Vargas handled the return throw and applied an off-balance tag on Brett Callahan, who had tried to advance from second. Callahan was initially called safe, but Chicago challenged and the ruling was overturned, ending the threat.
Vargas made sure there would be no ninth-inning drama. On a ground ball by Gleyber Torres, he charged hard, tagged Colt Keith before he could reach third, then fired to first to retire Torres and complete the game-ending double play.
All-Star season keeps growing
The White Sox have relied on Vargas throughout their push toward October, and the 2026 All-Star has supplied plenty at the plate. He entered the closing stretch with 31 home runs, 84 RBIs and an .827 OPS.
Thursday, though, his glove was the difference. With the division race level and every out carrying extra weight, Vargas gave Chicago two clean answers from the hot corner and helped put the White Sox back in first-place position.
