Vargas, Montgomery both reach 30 homers in White Sox win
Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery each hit their 30th home run of the season as the White Sox beat the Twins 4-1, improving to 74-67 and 2.5 games clear of Cleveland in the AL Central.
Fedde and Smith combine on a 4-1 win over Minnesota
Erick Fedde started and worked 5.0 innings, allowing 3 hits and no earned runs while walking 2 and striking out 2. Hagen Smith followed with 2.0 scoreless innings of his own, giving up 2 hits with no walks and 3 strikeouts, and the bullpen carried the 4-1 win over the Twins home. Colson Montgomery went 1-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBI, Braden Montgomery added a solo home run of his own, and Miguel Vargas also went deep, going 1-for-4 with a homer and an RBI.
Twins4-1The win moves Chicago to 74-67 and is their second in the last 5 games. Per Scott Merkin of MLB.com, the win also keeps the White Sox 2 1/2 games clear of Cleveland in the AL Central, with the Guardians having needed two walk-off wins of their own over Detroit just to stay within shouting distance.
Vargas and Montgomery both join the 30-homer club
Miguel Vargas became the first White Sox player to reach 30 home runs this season, and Colson Montgomery reached the same mark in the same game — the subject of Barstool Bush's own piece, "Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery Both Hit 30 Homers Same Night." Per Scott Merkin of MLB.com, Vargas joined Robin Ventura's 1996 season and Joe Crede's 2006 season as the only primary third basemen in White Sox history to hit 30 homers and 30 doubles in the same year, and became just the fifth primary White Sox third baseman ever to reach 30 homers, joining Frazier, Ventura, Melton and Crede.
@StoolBaseball marked Montgomery's arrival with a simple "Colson Montgomery joins the 30 HR Club!", and barstoolWSD's whitesoxdave, who'd spent the night praising Fedde's sweeper, added that "Vargas wins the sprint to 30, let's fucking go!"
Upcoming
The White Sox host the Twins tonight, with Anthony Kay (9-7, 4.28 ERA) opposing Taj Bradley (10-6, 3.85 ERA). Bradley was sharp in his last outing, going 7.0 innings against Detroit with 1 earned run, 4 hits and 9 strikeouts against 3 walks on August 31. Kay's last start went the other way — 4.2 innings against Houston on the same day, charged with 5 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, with 5 strikeouts.
Chicago is favored at home, and the total is read as middling — not a game the market expects to turn into a slugfest or a pitchers' duel. Given Bradley's recent form against a middling Kay, the number will need Kay to look more like the pitcher who beat Detroit in his prior turn than the one Houston got to on August 31.