Yelich halts drought with timely holiday HR

ST. LOUIS -- The dry spell is over for Christian Yelich, and it came at an opportune time.
Yelich connected on a three-run, opposite-field home run off Lance Lynn in the sixth inning that triggered the Marlins' 5-2 comeback victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
The drive to left-center gave Miami a 3-2 edge, and it was Yelich's first home run since June 2, a span of 27 games, 123 plate appearances and 106 at-bats.
"It's been a while," said Yelich, who now has eight homers. "It's been a long time. I've kind of been grinding through some stuff, trying to get it back. Felt good."
The Marlins have a dangerous lineup, which features All-Stars Marcell Ozuna, who has 22 homers, and Giancarlo Stanton, who has 21.
First baseman Justin Bour has 18 home runs, and he's recently been the club's primary power threat.
Yelich, one of the more polished young hitters in the game, had a career-high 21 homers in 2016, but went more than a month without a blast.
"That was huge right there to get us the lead right there," manager Don Mattingly said. "But obviously the homer to come right back and score, and also take the lead."

Statcast™ projected the homer at 406 feet with an exit velocity of 102.8 mph, along with a 30-degree launch angle.
"Just trying to hit a ball hard," Yelich said. "Put a good swing on it. It just happened."
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the fifth on Greg Garcia's two-run homer off José Ureña.
Miami was able to counter immediately. In the sixth, Dee Gordon had a one-out double, and Stanton reached on a tough error. He blistered a liner at 117.6 mph, and second baseman Matt Carpenter, who was shifted up the middle, made a leaping attempt. He knocked the ball down, but rushed a throw that was off the mark.

"That's a tough error," Yelich said. "It was like 180 mph off the bat, or something like that. A new record. It's tough. It almost took Carpenter into center field with him."
The error put runners on first and second with one out.
"We hit some balls hard," Yelich said. "It was a little break for us, which was big. That was a weird play. It went from an inning-ending lineout double play to being an out at first to nobody being out, to first and second. Just one of those freak baseball plays. You never know what you're going to see on any given day."
With the count full, Lynn elevated a 94-mph fastball to Yelich, who didn't miss it.
"He's a good hitter, put a good swing on it and put a good charge opposite field there," Lynn said. "I would like to have that pitch back."