Yelich took a long walk toward the backstop after a disputed check-swing strike put him in an 0-2 hole leading off the bottom of the eighth inning. He then returned to the batter’s box and looked at ball one, before launching a Joakim Soria changeup into the Brewers’ bullpen. His go-ahead home run sent Milwaukee to a 7-5 win over Arizona on Saturday at steamy American Family Field, where the Brewers are finally slugging at a pre-pandemic pace.
Warmer weather has done wonders for the bats. When Omar Narváez made it back-to-back home runs off Soria, the Crew had belted three home runs on Saturday — Willy Adames also went deep — and 14 over their past four games. That ties for the second most in a four-game span in franchise history, one shy of the club record from … wait for it … the team’s 106-loss 2002 season.
“I know everybody thought we weren’t going to score any runs all season, that we had a terrible offense and that’s how it’s going to go,” Yelich said. “We knew if we just stuck with it, it’s going to click; it’s going to warm up, and we’re going to get in a groove.”
Now, after a May swoon, the Brewers are in a groove again. Milwaukee has won eight of its past nine games to surge toward the top of the National League Central standings. Saturday’s victory had the Brewers a half-game back of the Cubs, who played at San Francisco later in the night.
Getting Yelich going has been a priority for the Crew since the outfielder returned from a right knee injury that prematurely ended his 2019 season. Lately, there have been signs that he’s getting his timing back. Yelich went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored and is 5-for-18 with a pair of home runs through the first five games of the current homestand.
“Seeing Yeli hit that one opposite field, that’s a huge sign right there,” said right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who battled a lefty-heavy D-backs lineup and the 93-degree heat for five tough innings. “That’s what we’re used to seeing, that big pop to left-center.”
“Man, Yeli rakes. He’s the man, so to see him do that in that big situation right there, it’s just what he does,” said outfielder Tyrone Taylor, who delivered a bloop two-run single during the Brewers’ three-run fourth, which manager Craig Counsell called a game-changer.
The Brewers had to fight for this win against the D-backs, who have now lost 16 consecutive road games. Woodruff needed 99 pitches to get through five innings as his streak of 10 consecutive quality starts came to an end. But he limited the damage to two runs on six hits and one walk while striking out nine.
The Crew took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on Taylor’s hit, then grew the advantage to 5-2 on Adames’ two-run home run in the sixth, as he continued providing a spark since arriving in a trade from Tampa Bay. But the D-backs fought back with three runs on a pair of homers off left-hander Brent Suter in the seventh to tie the game at 5.
That was the score when Yelich stepped up to the plate against Soria, his 2018 Brewers teammate, in the eighth. After Yelich hit his second homer of ’21 in Thursday’s win over the D-backs, he indicated that the timing of his swing still left something to be desired.
What did Yelich think after hitting another home run two days later?
“I’d say I’m making progress,” Yelich said. “I don’t know if it’s exactly where I want to be. Just building on it. It helps to be out there consistently and just get in the flow of the game. That’s how it comes. You have to play and feel your way through it. It’s good at times, and not great at times. But I think it’s getting more consistent, and hopefully, I’ll get it ironed out soon.”
There was another important development this week. For the music aficionados who wondered about Yelich changing his walkup music from Andre Nickatina’s “Jungle” to Uncle Kracker’s “Drift Away” in recent days — which coincided with Daniel Vogelbach switching to Fountain of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom” — here’s the answer:
“We had a ’90s or early 2000s clubhouse playlist like at 2 o’clock one of these days,” Yelich said. “We were daring each other to use some of the songs. We were the two that decided to do it. I switched back today, but [Vogelbach] is still riding it out. I just laugh a lot every time he comes up and hits now.
“It’s a lot of fun. You’ve got to find a way to have fun throughout the year and keep things fresh. That’s kind of one way we did it. It always helps when you’re playing well.”