MILWAUKEE -- Andrew Vaughn didn’t sound sold on the concept of a change of scenery. But that was before he stepped to the plate for the first time with the Brewers.
Vaughn became the fifth player in the franchise’s 57-season history to hit a home run in his first plate appearance, belting a hanging slider from Dodgers All-Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto for a two-strike, two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning that propelled Milwaukee to a 9-1 win over the Dodgers on Monday night at American Family Field.
“You definitely black out running around the bases. It’s special,” Vaughn said. “It was pretty cool to be part of something bigger than myself, being part of the Brewers. I’m just doing anything I can to help this team win.”
Vaughn was still learning his new teammates’ names when he hit his blast amid a 10-batter, five-run, four-hit, two-walk first inning. The Brewers benefitted from Mookie Betts’ two-out throwing error, but they also stacked tough at-bats to knock Yamamoto out of the game after 41 pitches and only two outs in the shortest outing of his Major League career.
And it all backed Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta, who celebrated making his second All-Star Game roster by holding the potent Dodgers scoreless with seven strikeouts over six innings to move to 10-4 with a 2.74 ERA. Peralta also joined MLB’s double-digit-win club, which includes the Yankees’ Max Fried, the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal and the Astros’ Framber Valdez.
For the National League-best Dodgers (56-36), the loss continued a recent slide. They were on a 15-3 run before slipping into their current four-game losing streak, during which they’ve been outscored by the Astros and Brewers by a 38-7 margin.
It all started with Vaughn, the third overall pick in the 2019 Draft who rocketed to the Majors with the White Sox and hit 72 homers in his first four seasons on Chicago’s South Side. But he slumped so badly at the start of this season that he was demoted to Triple-A Charlotte on May 23 and then was acquired by the Brewers on June 13 in exchange for right-hander Aaron Civale, who told Milwaukee he wanted out after the club promoted top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski to take his rotation spot.
On paper, it was a classic “change of scenery” swap. But Vaughn, called up from Triple-A Nashville by the Brewers on Monday after first baseman Rhys Hoskins landed on the injured list with a sprained left thumb, sounded lukewarm on that concept.
“It could be,” Vaughn said on Monday afternoon. “Just getting around new people, different views of the game, I guess you could say. I’m taking full advantage of it.”
What was the Brewers’ message after they acquired him?
“It was a welcome, and, ‘Hey, go do your thing,’” Vaughn said. “Once I got over here, [the message] was just to simplify. Get back to what makes me good.”
What makes Vaughn good has always been an ability to hit the ball hard, which happens to be a trait he shares with the only other player in Brewers history with that surname. Greg Vaughn, who was selected fourth overall in the 1986 Draft, made it to Milwaukee in ‘89 and became a cult hero when fans smuggled a large “Vaughn’s Valley” banner into County Stadium and affixed it to the top of the left-field bleachers, where it was immortalized on Vaughn’s 1994 Upper Deck baseball card.
Now the Brewers’ new Vaughn has a chance to make an impact of his own. Hoskins could miss multiple weeks with his thumb injury.
“A few years ago, [Andrew Vaughn] was a force and a hitter you didn’t want to face every day,” manager Pat Murphy said. “He was a guy who could get you a base hit or a double to the gap, hit the ball hard. Obviously, he fell on tough times, but sometimes a new environment -- people respond all the time to failures. That’s how you get to the top.”
Monday marked a good start. Vaughn finished 1-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored and three RBIs. He was the first Brewer to homer in his first plate appearance with the team since outfielder Gabe Gross on April 4, 2006.
“It helps because, you know, he doesn’t know anybody in our organization,” Murphy said. “To have him show up the first day at noon, not know anybody, and then he’s in [the lineup], then get a huge hit in the first inning. That kind of opened things up. It was a great way to say, ‘Here I am.’”
Vaughn might need to say that again on Tuesday to get to know everyone.
“I’m really bad with names,” Vaughn said with a grin. “But it was really special. Amazing day.”