After Murphy's plea, crowd gets behind Yelich and he delivers

MILWAUKEE – Brewers manager Pat Murphy implored fans to stick with the slumping Christian Yelich.

Each time Yelich stepped to the plate Wednesday night, fans heeded the call.

“They were in it,” said Andrew Vaughn. “It was pretty cool.”

“That was really special,” Murphy said. “Does anybody really listen to what I say?”

Apparently, they do. And Yelich, like he has done so many times in his good years and bad since arriving in Milwaukee in 2018 to help usher in the winningest stretch of franchise history, delivered.

Yelich’s run-scoring double broke the ice for the Brewers against the Pirates and Paul Skenes, who gave up three runs in the fourth inning and was out of the game by the sixth as the Brewers beat their division rivals for the second straight night, 4-2.

It was a productive night for Yelich, who was greeted by noticeable cheers from the crowd of 33,528 every time he strode to the batter’s box. He was called out on a disputed check-swing third strike in the second inning, but he doubled home the game’s first run in the fourth, then singled and stole second base in the sixth.

“It was cool to see the support from the fans tonight,” Yelich said. “It obviously hasn’t been the best last couple of months for me, but I definitely appreciated that tonight.”

It was the kind of impact the Brewers are used to from their unofficial captain, who has been slumping so severely this season that Murphy dropped him all the way to seventh in the lineup originally posted on Tuesday. Yelich eventually bumped back up to the five-hole when first baseman Jake Bauers was scratched with an abdominal injury. Either way, it was the first time this season he’d started a game below the cleanup spot.

When Murphy heard boos as Yelich went 0-for-4, the manager made an unprompted plea to fans for encouragement.

A day later, it was clear many among the crowd had been listening.

“I’m happy for him,” Murphy said. “He had two good at-bats and ran the bases unbelievably. That was big. Huge.”

What did Yelich make of the lineup change?

“That’s what Murph thinks is best for the team and will help us win,” Yelich said. “I’ve always been willing to do whatever they think is best for us to try to win. That’s the ultimate goal here. I’ve kind of hit all over – never seventh. Regardless, whenever you’re in there, you try to do something to help the team win.”

And that’s what he did Wednesday.

“He’s putting his head down and working,” Vaughn said. “He’s not having the success of MVP Christian Yelich, but this game is really hard. We all go through it, and I think he’s been really great about it. He’s our guy. He’s a leader in this clubhouse, and we all look up to him.”