ST. LOUIS -- The Brewers have kept their heads above water with bunts and baserunning and run prevention, but every now and then, it takes a three-run home run to win a ballgame.
That’s where Milwaukee hopes power-hitting first baseman Andrew Vaughn comes in.
Playing in his second game back from hand surgery, Vaughn’s first home run of 2026 was a three-run shot in a four-run first inning that sent Milwaukee to a 6-2 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Wednesday.
Five Brewers pitchers combined to hold the Cardinals to four hits after Jake Bauers’ single and Vaughn’s Statcast-projected 403-foot homer into the visitors' bullpen spotted them an early lead. It was a look at some of what Milwaukee was missing with outfielder Jackson Chourio landing on the injured list the morning of Opening Day with a fractured bone at the base of his left middle finger, and Vaughn hitting the IL two days later with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand.
Both of those key hitters returned to the Brewers’ lineup for Monday’s series opener in St. Louis and have made a quick impact.
In just two games, Chourio already has reached safely seven times including six hits – five of them with exit velocities north of 102 mph, according to Statcast, after Wednesday's 108.7 mph RBI double in the ninth inning. His six hits across his first two games of a season are second-most in franchise history behind Cecil Cooper’s seven hits in his first two games of 1982.
And Vaughn provided some pop of his own with his home run off Cardinals starter Andre Pallante. It was the Brewers’ 24 homer of the season. Only the Giants have hit fewer.