13 in a row! Yelich makes Uecker part of huge rally to tie Crew mark

CINCINNATI -- If you thought the Brewers’ run couldn’t get any more magical, you hadn't seen anything yet.

Trailing by seven runs in the second inning with a 12-game winning streak in serious peril, Milwaukee mounted a comeback for the ages to tie the game by the fourth inning and claim a lead over the Reds by the sixth on the way to pulling off one of their most improbable, unforgettable wins ever, 10-8, at Great American Ball Park -- all led by longtime Brewers star Christian Yelich swinging a Bob Uecker tribute bat that he waited a full year to carry to home plate.

Yelich’s four-hit, five-RBI night and shutdown relief from a bullpen called into early action behind an ineffective Jacob Misiorowski added up to the 13th comeback victory in franchise history after a deficit of seven or more runs, and a 13th consecutive win for these Brewers, who have matched 1987’s “Team Streak” for the longest winning spree in franchise history.

According to Elias, it was the biggest comeback in MLB history to extend a winning streak to 13 or more games. The previous standard was five runs, by the 1934 Tigers for their 13th in a row and the 2002 A’s for their 19th.

“[Yelich] told me on the bench, straight up, it was 8-1, he said, 'We're going to win this game,’” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “How do you make that statement? He looked at me and said, 'We're going to win this game.'

“And then... it happened.”

It’s true, said left-hander DL Hall, the first of six Milwaukee relievers called into duty after the All-Star rookie Misiorowski returned from the injured list only to be saddled with more earned runs (five) than he recorded outs (four). Hall didn’t fare much better, and he was so frustrated after the Reds blooped and bounced him to death during his portion of Cincinnati’s seven-run second inning that he attempted to rearrange the dugout bench with his fists.

As it turned out, Hall had just recorded the first two of 23 consecutive Reds batters retired by Brewers pitchers to end the game. But Hall couldn’t possibly have fathomed that at the moment.

“As soon as I’m in the dugout, Yeli is letting me know, ‘Hey we’re going to win this game. Don’t worry. We’re going to score runs. Just keep them right there.'”

“So that’s the mindset I went out there with,” Hall said “Just keep them right there.”

By the time he got back to the mound, Yelich had his second run-scoring hit of the night and the comeback was on. If the 1987 Brewers team had its unforgettable Easter Sunday, when Rob Deer and Dale Sveum homered at County Stadium to erase a three-run deficit for a walk-off win and victory No. 12 of their 13-0 start, this Brewers team will forever remember the Friday night in August when Yelich honored Uecker, the late, legendary radio broadcaster who batted .200 in the big leagues and then made a career making fun of himself.

Uecker never had a night like this. Yelich hit a solo home run in the second inning, keyed the comeback from the Reds’ seven-run second inning with a run-scoring double in a five-run third, tied the game at 8-8 with a two-run single in the fourth that left him a triple shy of his FOURTH career cycle against Cincinnati, then spoiled that bid in the sixth by belting a go-ahead solo homer instead.

He did it all with a bat that Yelich never got to swing last season. He was undergoing back surgery last Aug. 16 -- on the first day of Major League Baseball’s Players’ Weekend -- so the baby blue Louisville Slugger made especially for the occasion, with Uecker’s image and art of his signature home run call (“Get up! Get outta here!”) remained on the bat rack. Yelich and Uecker posed for a photo holding the bat instead.

With another Players’ Weekend upon the Brewers, it was time for equipment manager Jason Shawger to break out the bat. After Uecker’s passing on Jan. 16 at age 90 following a private battle with small cell lung cancer, the lumber meant more than ever.

“I didn’t even know if I was going to use it and I asked ‘Shawg’ if I should,” Yelich said. “He said, ‘Yeah, you have to. You have to do it at least once.'”

His chance came when leading off the top of the second inning. Yelich fell into a 1-2 count against Reds starter Nick Martinez. The next pitch was a sinker “right down Wisconsin Ave.,” as Uecker used to say during his 54 years calling games on the radio for his hometown team.

Yelich didn’t miss it. His solo homer sailed to the seats in left field and briefly tied the game at 1-1.

It was his 24th home run this season, the 228th of his career, and surely one of the most memorable. But it wasn’t his last hit of the night. Nor his last homer.

On the bench after the first, Yelich asked Shawger if it should be one-and-done. Shawger encouraged Yelich to keep going, and it paid off as he punched a jam-shot double over third base for another run, one of the key hits in a game-changing, five-run rally that included Andrew Vaughn’s three-run homer.

"We just kept using it, and it ended up being part of a special night -- which, obviously, figures,” Yelich said. “When you’re talking about [Uecker], you don’t put anything out of the question.”

The word “magical” has been thrown around a lot during the Brewers' winning streak. At least one fan even came to American Family Field earlier this week with a sign declaring his belief in “Uecker Magic.” Fans are starting to believe because of moments like the top of the fourth inning, when Reds second baseman Gavin Lux bobbled a sure double play ball off the bat of William Contreras and extended a rally for Yelich’s tying, two-run single.

Or, for that matter, in the first inning, when outfielder Steward Berroa helped Misiorowski escape the first by throwing out Miguel Andujar at home plate to end the inning.

If the name Steward Berroa is unfamiliar to Brewers fans, it’s because he wasn’t in the organization until July 9, and he wasn’t on the big league roster until Friday. The Brewers had to call him up because they were down two outfielders in NL Rookie of the Year candidate Isaac Collins (paternity list) and NL Gold Glove Award finalist Blake Perkins (bereavement list) were not active on Friday. And that’s after the Brewers dealt for outfielder Blake Lockridge at the Trade Deadline just as budding star Jackson Chourio landed on the injured list with a right hamstring strain.

Since then, the Brewers are 13-0. Their lead over the second-place Cubs in the NL Central has grown to nine games.

And it was Lockridge who started the comeback Friday with a single leading off the third inning.

“It’s a little overwhelming, to be honest with you,” Lockridge said of what he’s witnessed. “Obviously in a great way.”

Murphy made sure credit went where it was deserved. “You can give everybody else all the credit you want and pretend like it’s this or that, but it’s those guys in there and the decisions they’re making,” he said, pointing to the locker room.

But you can’t blame folks for wondering if there’s "Uecker Magic" in the air. Murphy, who has pictures with Uecker dotting his office back home and said he regularly checks in on Uecker’s widow, Judy, told a story about the first team meeting in Spring Training, where the theme was dealing with losses.

“We mentioned [Willy] Adames because he was such a part of the heartbeat of this team last year that won the division by 10 games,” Murphy said. “We talked about Devin Williams, who had been such a great reliever. We talked about the loss in Milwaukee versus the Mets when [Pete] Alonso hit the homer [in the NL Wild Card Series]. We talked about that. Devastating.

“But the loss of Ueck and what that meant to the organization, we just have to convince ourselves that he’s with us. I think it’s true. Heroes will be remembered and legends never die. Somehow, it seems like he’s watching over us. I said he’s not going to miss a game. He definitely was here tonight. Yeli proved it.”

Does Yelich believe in Uecker Magic?

He wasn’t prepared to say. But nothing surprises him anymore.

“Stuff like that, that’s just part of Ueck,” Yelich said. “It just adds to how special tonight was with the guys, and the comeback win, and using a bat that I was supposed to use last year and ended up having the surgery at this time last year.

“It’s a pretty cool, full-circle moment because I gave him one of those bats and took all the pictures. Just a cool all-around night.”