Unlikely hero: Vaughn’s home run the winning hit as Cubs eliminated
MILWAUKEE — The path to becoming a playoff hero can be unconventional.
Andrew Vaughn has done damage to both sides of Chicago, and his solo home run with two outs in the fourth inning Saturday broke a 1-1 tie and drove the Brewers into the National League championship series for the first time since 2018.
There was a charter jet waiting at the Milwaukee airport to fly the Cubs to Los Angeles late Saturday night. But it stayed empty, as the season ended with a 3-1 loss in Game 5 of the division series.
This turned out to be a battle of solo home runs. The Brewers went deep off three different Cubs pitchers, and all came with two outs. William Contreras homered in the first, Vaughn in the fourth and Brice Turang in the seventh.
Seiya Suzuki's leadoff home run in the second inning was the only scoring for the Cubs, who finished with just 4 hits.
Vaughn was a No. 3 draft pick of the White Sox in 2019 out of Cal. He struggled so badly this spring, he was sent down to Triple-A Charlotte after hitting .189 for the Sox. The South Siders finally gave up and traded Vaughn to Milwaukee for current Cubs pitcher Aaron Civale.
The bottom line: There's a reason Vaughn was a No. 3 overall pick. The Brewers bought low and cashed in.
“The journey has been kind of crazy,” Vaughn said after the game. “The opportunity to be with this group, it's changed my life, honestly. And just grateful for it.”
The Cubs were ultimately ruined by their inconsistent offense. Over the last three innings, the only baserunner for the Cubs was a Michael Busch walk in the eighth.
The sixth inning was key. With Milwaukee flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski out of the game, the Cubs greeted left-hander Aaron Ashby with a Busch single, then Nico Hoerner was hit by a pitch and Ashby went to a 3-1 count against Kyle Tucker.
On the verge of loading the bases with nobody out, Tucker did something he hardly ever does — swing and miss a 3-2 pitch that appeared to be ball four. The Brewers changed pitchers and got out the inning with a Suzuki fly out and called third strike to Ian Happ.
“That was the inning,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That was the inning with the middle of the lineup up. Ashby made a pretty darned good pitch, 3-2 to Tucker. Looked like right down away on the corner. It was a nasty pitch.
“We just didn't do much. We had six baserunners. You're going to have to hit homers to have any runs scoring in scenarios like that.”
Using an opener to start the game on the mound worked for Milwaukee, as Trevor Megill cruised through the first inning. Cubs starter Drew Pomeranz recorded two outs, then gave up a 3-2 home run to Contreras, a rocket line drive to left-center field.
The Cubs didn't trail for long. Suzuki led off the second with a rare, for him, opposite-field home run.
The Cubs' second pitcher was Colin Rea and he was sailing along, about to complete three scoreless innings, when Vaughn smacked a two-out, 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for his second home run of the series.
The Brewers tacked on an infield single, outfield single, then a semi-intentional walk to load the bases before Daniel Palencia got a grounder to short from Joey Ortiz to end the inning.
This was the Cubs' fourth elimination game of this postseason. They took that as a sign they can rise to the occasion. Or maybe they were due for some regression. The first three do-or-die games took place at Wrigley Field, which was surely a factor.
The crowd was hyped up for this one, and it sounded like more Cubs fans made the trip Saturday than for Games 1 and 2.
The Cubs clubhouse was understandably somber after the game, with no player more emotional than Pete Crow-Armstrong.
“It's a blast,” PCA said of the playoff experience. “This is definitely where I want to be every year. Those (Games 3 and 4 at Wrigley) were two of the best games of my life and I think that's just more motivation to be able to do it year in and year out.
“We all go hug each other and stuff, but I don't think that really does a full year's justice. The toughest part moving forward is kind of understanding that it may not be the same faces in here next year, and that's going to suck. We've got a couple days to pack our stuff at Wrigley and give more hugs.”