First career pinch-hit HR? Yelich makes it a winner to cap stunning rally, sweep

MILWAUKEE – Christian Yelich has done a lot of things in his career, but he’d never hit a pinch-hit home run.

“Great spot for the first one,” he said after connecting on Sunday.

The Brewers, who trailed 4-0 before the first out of the ballgame, 7-2 in the third inning and 7-3 going into the bottom of the eighth, stormed all the way back for a 9-7 win over the White Sox at American Family Field on Sunday to finish a season-opening, three-game sweep.

They capped the weekend with a six-run, eighth-inning rally punctuated by Yelich’s first career homer off the bench, a two-out, two-strike, three-run shot that looked like it might scrape the underside of Milwaukee’s closed dome before wrapping around the right-field foul pole. It was the second consecutive two-out, two-strike, multi-run hit for the Brewers, who saw Luis Rengifo make it a one-run game with a two-RBI single – his first hit in a Brewers uniform – immediately preceding Yelich.

“That’s kind of just who we are,” Yelich said. “We have a lot of the same guys from last year. Not that we’re going to keep talking about last year or anything like that, but we’re an experienced group together that’s been through the ups and downs of the season. We’ve been behind in games and come back and won.

“That’s why basically everybody today was like, ‘We’re fine. We’re going to be in this thing. Let’s chip away.'”

It was that kind of comeback. Gary Sánchez’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning – the first glimmer of hope that there was a lot of baseball left – came with two outs. So did Brandon Lockridge’s run-scoring single in the sixth.

Then came the eighth, when Joey Ortiz led off with a single, Blake Perkins worked a one-out walk and Brice Turang chased lefty reliever Chris Murphy with a first-pitch single. That brought on Sox closer Seranthony Domínguez, who retired William Contreras on a pop-out but couldn’t shake Rengifo, who singled on the seventh pitch to make it a 7-6 game.

“I imagine it’s pretty frustrating to have to throw seven pitches to every dang hitter,” said Brewers closer Trevor Megill, who pitched the ninth for his first save. “It definitely wears on some guys. That’s kind of what we do here.”

Even Yelich, pinch-hitting in Sánchez’s spot to reclaim the platoon advantage, got to a fifth pitch in his battle with Domínguez. That’s no small task for a hitter coming in cold from the bench.

Yelich has won one National League MVP Award and finished runner-up in another year, so it’s no surprise that he is not particularly accustomed to pinch-hitting. He’d done so 37 times in his career before Sunday, and was 7-for-31 in those plate appearances with zero extra-base hits.

“It’s very difficult, but Yeli went up there with the confidence of his [13] years behind him,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s battling every pitch. That’s why he’s a great leader.”

The result was a no-decision for Brewers rotation newcomer Brandon Sproat, who surrendered home runs in each of his three innings on the mound, including Colson Montgomery’s grand slam with nobody out in the top of the first inning. Sproat was out of the game after throwing 86 pitches in three innings, which, it turned out, meant that there was plenty of game to go.

“We just kind of battled all day,” Yelich said. “We got into a tough spot early, but the guys kept talking in the dugout the whole time, just, ‘Let’s get this close, give ourselves an opportunity in the end to be in it. Keep grinding.’”

Sproat is learning that the Brewers do that a lot.

“These guys can swing it,” said the 25-year-old right-hander. “After watching today and them never giving up, it’s definitely reassuring as a pitcher. Whether you’re going good or have a crappy day like today, you know those guys are still battling for you.”

It’s only three games, and one opponent, but the Brewers led the Majors’ opening weekend with 29 runs scored, a .972 OPS and 184 weighted runs created plus. They also tied the modern record for team strikeouts in a nine-inning game on Opening Day on Thursday, and went 7-for-7 in stolen bases on Saturday.

Sunday’s comeback was the capper.

“That was pretty early in the season to give you one to remember,” Murphy said.

“We still have a really long way to go here,” Yelich said. “It was a good couple of days for us, but you have to stay focused and present.”