Yelich scalds baseball in return; Brewers shut out by Rangers

ARLINGTON -- Christian Yelich scalded three baseballs in his return to the Brewers' lineup in the team's 5-0 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field on Monday, and characterized the recent angst about his five-game absence amid a flare-up of his surgically-repaired back as much ado about very little.

“I was not worried for a second about it,” said Yelich, who batted fourth and was the designated hitter on Monday. “I knew when I missed time that it was going to spiral out of control with the stories and narratives and all that stuff.”

He’s right that the flare-up was a matter of high interest, considering that Yelich has been among the National League’s most productive hitters this season. He carries a .268/.350/.462 slash line with 27 home runs and 92 RBIs. Already, it’s the most homers and RBIs he’s produced since he was runner-up to Cody Bellinger for the 2019 NL MVP Award, a year in which Yelich hit a career-high 44 home runs.

His health has been a storyline each year since, including in 2024 when an excellent season was cut short by a flare-up of his troublesome back in July, which necessitated season-ending surgery in August.

Back in action this year, it has been an overall healthy season for Yelich, who has played in 132 of the Brewers’ first 145 games, including 112 starts at designated hitter and 18 in left field. He started 18 games during the Brewers’ recent stretch of 19 games over 18 days, and played in all 19. And he made seven starts in left field in August while Jackson Chourio was on the injured list.

“There was not one thing that hurt it. It was just [playing] a lot in a short amount of time and wasn't feeling the greatest,” Yelich said. “And, yeah, sometimes -- I did have back surgery -- so you're going to have days where you're a little stiffer and sore. It's kind of where we're at in the season. We just wanted to make sure that everything was all good going down the stretch.”

Everything looked good on Monday for Yelich, who sandwiched deep flyouts at 105.0 mph in the first inning and 106.4 mph in the seventh around a 101.9 mph single in the fifth.

The same could not be said for the Brewers, who saw Jose Quintana walk to the mound for the fifth inning working a perfect game, only to walk off the mound responsible for a 4-0 deficit after a dropped foul pop-up, two walks, a double and a two-out grand slam on an 0-2 pitch to the Rangers’ No. 8 hitter, Michael Helman.

Still, the Brewers (89-56) did inch closer to clinching the NL Central with the Cubs also losing Monday to remain 7 1/2 games back.

“It’s a really bad feeling, especially the way I felt tonight,” Quintana said. “I think I missed just one pitch in the wrong situation, and I paid for that. Other than that, I’ll keep the positive things I did today, the way I felt. I want to stay right there.”

So does Yelich, who “looked like he didn’t miss a day,” Quintana said, even though he’d missed just shy of a week. The 2018 National League MVP played Sept. 1 against the Phillies and said he woke up the next morning “not feeling great.” So he sat out the remainder of that series and then all three games of the Brewers’ weekend sweep of the Pirates, but has been on a good trajectory since taking some swings in the batting cage in Pittsburgh on Saturday. On Monday, he approached manager Pat Murphy, telling him that he wanted to play.

“It’s an amazing thing that he’s played so many games,” Murphy said. “He played all 19 in that stretch and, coming off back surgery, we just didn’t know what we were going to get. … We have to be thankful, and he came to me today and said. ‘I’m in there, right?’”

Chourio has also since returned to active duty, and the Brewers are poised to get back first baseman/designated hitter Rhys Hoskins on Tuesday. He rejoined the team Monday after an extended rehab appearance with Triple-A Nashville, where he slashed .275/.371/.471 across 14 games while recovering from a left thumb ligament injury. Barring a change of plans, the Brewers will essentially carry three first basemen in the right-handed hitting Hoskins and Andrew Vaughn, and left-handed hitting Jake Bauers, making playing-time management an interesting puzzle to solve.

The team is also nearing the return of closer Trevor Megill from a right flexor strain. After a pair of bullpen sessions, he’ll throw the first of what is expected to be two live batting practices on Tuesday.

The Brewers now hold a 4 1/2-game lead over the Phillies for the best record in the Majors. With only 18 regular-season games to play, Milwaukee has some freedom to regulate playing time for all of those players in an effort to get them to October in peak health.

But in the case of Yelich, there could be value in playing him in left field on occasion down the stretch, since it may be necessary during what the Brewers hope is a deep postseason run. And, Yelich noted, nothing is clinched yet.

“I don’t know how many games we’ve got left, but there’s still plenty of time for stuff to go wrong if you take your foot off the gas,” he said. “We have to make sure that we’re taking care of business. … You have to play through the finish line.”