How Andrew Vaughn Impacted the Brewers' Game 2 Victory

Andrew Vaughn added another chapter to magical season, clubbing a 3-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to help the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of their National League Division Series.

Milwaukee has a 2-0 series lead with Game 3 set for Wednesday afternoon in Chicago.

Vaughn, traded by the hapless White Sox to the Brewers in June, delivered the first 3-run homer (or grand slam) in Milwaukee postseason history.

It also snapped a 146 at-bat homeless drought for the 27-year-old Cal product. Vaughn hit nine home runs in his first 29 games with the Brewers this summer but had none in their final 35 games plus Game 1 of this series.

Andrew Vaughn belts his first-inning home run | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It was the first postseason homer of Vaughn’s career, which included a trip to the ALDS with the White Sox as a rookie in 2021.

The home run also was the first by a Cal alum in the MLB postseason since Marcus Semien hit two for the Texas Rangers in their 2023 World Series championship run.

The Cubs took the lead in the top of the first when Seiya Suzuki belted a 3-run homer.

Vaughn answered with a two-out, game-tying blast off Cubs starter Seiya Suzuki in the bottom of the inning, marking the first time in MLB history that each team hit a 3-run homer (or grand slam) in the first inning of a post-season game.

“He’s been great,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said during an in-game TV interview. “He’s been through a lot. Baseball has humbled him and he’s responded very well.”

Certainly none of this seemed on the table for Vaughn just four months ago. He was batting .189 with five home runs in 48 games when the White Sox, who already had demoted him to Triple-A, traded the No. 3 overall pick of the 2019 draft to Milwaukee. The Brewers promptly send Vaughn to their own Triple-A team.

The Brewers brought him up on July 7 and he responded in his debut with a 3-run homer in a 9-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom the Brewers could face in the NL Championship Series, if both teams get there.

Vaughn hit .308 with 46 RBIs in 64 games with Milwaukee, helping his new team win the NL Central title with the best record in baseball.

All seven of Milwaukee's runs scored on two-out home runs. William Contreras put the Brewes ahead 4-3 with a solo shot in the third inning. Jackson Chourio's 3-run homer in the fourth made it 7-3.

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