CHICAGO (AP) — Miguel Vargas homered twice and drove in three runs, and the Chicago White Sox beat Luis Castillo and the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Saturday night.
Colson Montgomery also went deep for Chicago, which had lost three straight and four of five overall. Anthony Kay (2-1) pitched five innings of one-run ball.
The White Sox improved to 18-21 on the season. They were 11-28 after 39 games last year.
Julio Rodríguez had two of Seattle’s four hits. The Mariners had won three of four, including a 12-8 victory in the series opener on Friday night.
Castillo (0-4) surrendered four runs and five hits in four innings in his third consecutive loss. The right-hander struck out six and walked none.
It was Castillo’s first loss in five career starts against the White Sox. He was 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA against the South Siders coming into the night, allowing five earned runs in 26 1/3 innings.
Montgomery drove Castillo’s 1-2 fastball deep to right for a two-run drive with two out in the first. Montgomery’s 10th homer extended his on-base streak to a career-best 21 straight games.
Vargas hit a two-run shot off Castillo in the third and a solo drive off left-hander Josh Simpson in the fifth. He has nine homers this season after he set a career high with 16 last year.
It was Vargas’ second career multihomer game. He also went deep twice against the Chicago Cubs last May 16.
Rob Refsnyder hit a sacrifice fly for Seattle in the fifth. The Mariners had a chance to rally in the eighth, but Randy Arozarena struck out swinging with runners on the corners for the final out of the inning.
Up next
Logan Gilbert (2-3, 4.30 ERA) starts for Seattle on Sunday, and fellow right-hander Davis Martin (5-1, 1.64) pitches for Chicago in the series finale.
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