Shortly before the start of Saturday’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium, it was announced that the Dodgers had updated their starting lineup. Replacing 33-year-old / six-time All-Star Freddie Freeman at first base (due to illness) was 22-year-old rookie utility infielder Miguel Vargas, who had appeared in only 11 games since his call up from Triple-A Oklahoma City on August 3.

Batting in the number eight hole and in his first at-bat in the bottom of the second inning, Vargas launched a 390-foot two-run home run into the Left Field Pavilion to give the Dodgers a then 4-0 lead in the eventual 6-2 Dodgers win. It was the first home run of the three-week-old major league career for the La Habana, Cuba native and secured the 10th win of the season for 34-year-old future Hall of Fame left-hander Clayton Kershaw.

“I’m just enjoying the moment,” Vargas said when asked about his last-minute replacement in his brief time in The Bigs. “It’s all part of the process. I’m still learning and I think the coaches and the staff, my teammates have helped me a lot in order for me to be ready for any moment.”

“It was great. You get a guy the night before hitting 700, and so he’s 699 away from Albert (Pujols),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts kidded postgame about Vargas’ first career home run.

When asked what he was going to do with the ball, which had been generously returned by the fan who caught it, Vargas replied with one of those ‘awww’ answers.

“I don’t know, I’ll probably give it to my mom,” he said.

As for that Pujols fellow, although Kershaw got Albert to ground out to second in the top of the first inning and struck him out on a checked swing in the top of the third, the newest member of baseball’s 700 Club singled to center off Kershaw in the top of the sixth inning. When asked what it was like standing next to one of the greatest hitters of all time, Vargas was very articulate in his answer.

“I didn’t have words to talk to him. He’s an icon for Latin guys. I was just looking at him like, wow, Albert Pujols is at my side,” Vargas said.

In his Kershaw-like six innings of work, the Dallas, TX native allowed two runs on seven hits, while walking one and striking out seven. Those two runs came on a sixth-inning two-run blast by longtime former Colorado Rockies nemesis third baseman Nolan Arenado.

“That’s a good team over there. They swing the bat really well, a lot of right-handed power that are really swinging the bat well,” Kershaw said postgame. “I gave up a lot of hits tonight, which I’m not happy about. The homer obviously wasn’t great, but overall it was OK. The guys put up a lot of runs early and we got back in the win column.”

“I thought he threw the baseball well, maybe not having his best stuff. But I thought there was some soft contact in there, still managed to get through six innings,” Roberts said of Kershaw.

Play Ball!

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