Christian Yelich has yet to have the same power surge this season that made him such a longball threat in 2018 and ‘19, but he put the stamp on the Brewers’ offensive explosion on the way to a 10-4 win over the Rockies on Saturday.
Yelich stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth to face Colorado reliever Ben Bowden. Luis Urías had just hit a two-run single to make it a three-run game, prompting Rockies manager Bud Black to bring the left-handed-pitching Bowden in to face the left-handed-hitting Yelich.
As Yelich waited off to the side while Bowden warmed up, he could feel the intensity of the crowd.
“It was really loud that inning, and even during that pitching change, you could feel the atmosphere, just everybody being into it,” Yelich said. “It’s an awesome feeling, and it definitely affects the game. It has an outcome on the game. The fans are loud, the crowd’s into it. I think we as a team feed on that, and usually good things start happening.”
When Bowden was ready to throw his first pitch, Yelich stepped into the box. On the first pitch he saw in the lefty-lefty matchup, Yelich cranked the ball out to right-center field, clearing the wall and driving in two to make it a 9-4 ballgame.
And that atmosphere he felt before his at-bat? The roar from the crowd nearly blew the roof off of American Family Field.
“The energy, the passion is big for us,” said Avisaíl García, who’s seventh-inning solo shot tied the game at 4. “We’re playing at home right now and it’s big. It gives us more energy, more focus. I think when you have the fans in the stands, they give you a lot. I’m happy for that.”
Leading up to Yelich’s blast, Daniel Robertson began the bottom of the eighth with a walk, Manny Piña got hit by a pitch in the next plate appearance and Jace Peterson singled on a bunt to the pitcher. That loaded the bases with nobody out for Omar Narváez, who battled through a nine-pitch at-bat against Rockies reliever Carlos Estévez and cracked a fly ball to deep center to drive in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.
Two more would score on Urías’ single up the middle, while Willy Adames’ RBI double made it a 10-4 game, but it was Yelich’s home run that provided the highlight for the eighth-inning slugfest.
Yelich had just four home runs in 135 at-bats on the year coming into Saturday, which can still be a surprising statistic considering he spent multiple seasons among the top sluggers in the National League. But while the power hasn’t been around this year, he is still doing things to contribute.
He’s taken the most walks (35) on the team. His 29 runs are four behind García for the most scored on the Brewers, and his .407 on-base percentage would be among the best marks in the Majors if he qualified.
Even on Saturday alone, he was 1-for-4 before the home run and nearly smoked a leadoff home run in the bottom of the third that died a few feet in front of the wall in center.
“The notion that Christian has to hit homers every at-bat is wrong,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s not how this works. He got a pitch to hit, he did something good with it, had a base hit earlier in the game. Christian’s doing a good job. He’s helping us win, he’s having a nice offensive season. I know his standards are really high and all of our standards for him are really high, but [he] just continues to have good at-bats.”
Though the homer isn’t confirmation that Yelich’s power is back, it was a nice reminder of what he can do to the baseball at his best.