Andrew Vaughn has made a good first impression with his new team, the Milwaukee Brewers.
Twice.
The former Cal star hit a three-run homer off All-Star right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his first at-bat with the Brewers on Monday, sparking the team to a 9-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“You definitely black out running around the bases,” he told reporters afterward. “It’s special. It put us ahead against a really good pitcher and really good team.”
The 27-year-old was the fifth player in franchise history to homer in his first plate appearance with the Brewers. He was the first do to it since Gabe Gross in 2006.
Vaughn was traded by the Chicago White Sox to Milwaukee on June 13 and immediately assigned to the Brewers’ Triple-A team, the Nashville Sounds. In his first game with the Sounds, four days later, he hit a grand slam.
Vaughn was in Nashville’s starting lineup Sunday when he was pulled from the game before his first at-bat. The call-up to Milwaukee came after the club’s regular first baseman, Rhys Hoskins, was put on the injured list with a sprained left thumb.
Batting fifth in the Brewers’ starting lineup Monday, Vaughn had the big blow in a 5-run inning that chased Yamamoto before he could record a third out.
The first baseman triggered a 3-6-3 double play to end the top of the first before hitting a 409-foot blast over the wall in left-center field in the bottom of the inning.
“To have him show up first day, not know anybody at noon, and then he’s in there and then kind of get a huge hit in the first inning to kind of open things up was a great way to say, ‘Here I am,’ ” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
Vaughn, who spent last season with a White Sox team that went 41-121, is happy to join a club that began Tuesday with a 51-40 record and second in the NL Central.
“That’s pretty cool, just to be a part of something bigger than myself, being part of the Brewers,” Vaughn said. “Just trying to do anything I can to help this team win.”
Milwaukee was set to host Game 2 of its series vs. the Dodgers on Tuesday evening, facing Hall of Fame-bound ace Clayton Kershaw.
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