ST. LOUIS ‒ Two straight games with a home run? The Milwaukee Brewers can, indeed, still do that.
With one swing of the bat in the top of the first inning May 6 at Busch Stadium, Andrew Vaughn not only provided all the scoring the Brewers would need in a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, but also gave the offense its first run of consecutive games with a long ball in more than three weeks.
April 13-14 was the last time the Brewers offense accomplished that, although the hope is that with Vaughn’s return there won’t be any sort of similar drought in the future.
Milwaukee’s offense, which ranks second-to-last in the league in home runs, has already seen some of the fruits of returns of Vaughn and Jackson Chourio over the two games in St. Louis as the duo combined for 11 hard-hit balls over 94 mph in the two games. Chourio, who whistled a RBI double at 108.7 mph off the bat in the ninth, had seven by himself.
To send the Brewers to a 19-16 record, Vaughn’s drive was all the visitors needed as Brandon Sproat and the bullpen kept the Cardinals off the board for the first seven innings and never allowed an at-bat with the tying run at the plate all day.
Andrew Vaughn makes good of two-out rally
What began inauspiciously ended with a bang.
After three straight hitters reached with two outs in the top of the first, Andrew Vaughn launched a three-run home run to left field to give Sproat and the Brewers an early 4-0 cushion.
Brice Turang’s seeing-eye tickler began the rally and was followed by William Contreras getting hit by a pitch and Jake Bauers roping a RBI single.
Vaughn, whose presence back in the lineup alongside Jackson Chourio two days prior signalled a hopeful return of some impactful pop, worked a count full and slammed a fastball on the inside corner from Andre Pallante 403 feet to left-center.
David Hamilton misplay almost mattered
Had it not been for a Hamilton gaffe at third on the second Cardinals batter of the game – or a different ruling by the official scorer – the Brewers would have been carrying a no-hitter through seven.
Hamilton backed up on a two-chopper from Ivan Herrera behind the bag and third, and a misread on the second hop led to him not getting a glove on it as it bounded past him for a double.
Sproat wouldn’t allow a hit over the rest of his four innings of work, and lefties DL Hall and Aaron Ashby followed accordingly.
Aside from an Alec Burleson line drive to center in the first and a Masyn Winn screamer right at Hamilton in the fourth, the Cardinals never even got particularly close to generating another hit until Victor Scott II led off the eighth with a single up the middle off of Trevor Megill.
Brandon Sproat works out of trouble
Given the Brewers’ 4-0 lead at the time, Sproat’s first two batters of bottom of the fourth didn’t go as desired, walking both Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman.
The right-hander worked out of a potential big inning, however, when Masyn Winn scorched a 100.3 mph line drive with a .630 expected batting average right at third baseman David Hamilton and José Fermín bounced into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
That marked the end of Sproat’s day with a final line of no runs and just one hit over four innings, but three walks and a large handful of lengthy at-bats drove his pitch count up to 74.
Garrett Mitchell scratched
Garrett Mitchell was removed from the Brewers lineup 30 minutes before first pitch due to an illness.
Sal Frelick moved to the leadoff spot, Chourio slid over to center field and Tyler Black was inserted in left field.
What time is the Brewers game today?
Time: 12:15 p.m.
What channel is the Brewers game on today?
TV channel: Brewers.TV.
Brewers 2026 record
18-16.
Brewers lineup
Cardinals lineup
Brewers probable starters and schedule
Off-day May 7.
Brewers vs. Yankees, May 8, 6:40 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Jacob Misiorowski (2-2, 2.84) vs. New York TBA. TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers vs. Yankees, May 9, 6:10 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Kyle Harrison (3-1, 2.12) vs. New York TBA. TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers vs. Yankees, May 10, 1:10 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Logan Henderson (0-1, 4.50) vs. New York TBA. TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Andrew Vaughn, Jackson Chourio provide the thump in Brewers’ 6-2 win over Cardinals
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
