PHOENIX -- Christian Yelich capped his Cactus League with a bang.

In the third inning of the split-squad Brewers' 6-4 loss to the Royals on Saturday, Yelich’s final Arizona swing produced a two-run home run that cleared the 25-foot batter’s eye in center field at American Family Fields of Phoenix, breaking an 11-way tie atop the Brewers’ spring home run leaderboard. Travis Shaw hit his own two-run tater two batters later, tying Yelich for the team lead with four homers apiece.

Yelich finished the Cactus League with a .474 average (18-for-38), with nine of those hits going for extra bases.

“The only thing that’s bad about that is they all start over at zero in three or four days,” Yelich said. “You wish you could take a few of those with you.”

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he accepted a proposal from Yelich before the game: If Yelich homered, he could call it a Cactus League. Yelich was hit by a pitch his first time up, so it took a second plate appearance to get the job done.

“Christian has been pretty locked in all spring,” Counsell said. “I’m not surprised to see that.”

Most of the team will be in the air Sunday while Freddy Peralta leads a team of Minor Leaguers against the D-backs in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Brewers have a pair of exhibitions against the Blue Jays in Montreal on Monday and Tuesday, then open the regular season at home against the Cardinals on Thursday.

That’s when Yelich will officially begin his defense of the National League MVP Award. He won the NL batting title last year with a .326 average while setting career highs with 36 home runs and 110 RBIs.

“It’s a whole new year, so you don’t want to be like, ‘That was the benchmark last year and I have to chase this. I was at this point last year; I need to be at this point again this year,’” Yelich said. “You flush it. Help the team win like we did down the stretch. Everybody plays together. All that [statistical] stuff takes care of itself. Just lock in on the daily.

“We’ll see what happens. I definitely think I can continue to play at a high level. I think our team can play at a high level. It’s just about focusing on the day to day. We’ve got a tough start to the year.”

Twenty of the Brewers’ first 26 games are against the Cardinals, Cubs and Dodgers.

“We really have to be ready to go,” Yelich said.

Rotation order set

Counsell had previously revealed the names in the Brewers’ starting rotation. On Saturday, he revealed the order. After Jhoulys Chacin on Opening Day, Peralta, Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes will start in that order against the Cardinals, followed by Zach Davies on April 1 against the Reds in Cincinnati.

It will be Burnes’ first Major League start.

“I’m excited for him to take the ball,” Counsell said. “He did everything last year, every time we made the game bigger.”

California Strong

The “California Strong” effort led by Ryan Braun, Yelich, Mike Moustakas and Mike Attanasio, the son of Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, will have new ball-and-glove-style T-shirts for sale at Miller Park during the Opening Series against the Cardinals, with proceeds going to those impacted by the dual tragedies of the Thousand Oaks shooting and the California wildfires.

“It’s something we’re extremely proud of and something we spent a lot of time on,” said Braun. “We were able to see the impact we had on thousands and thousands of lives this season. Having an opportunity to hear their stories, to have them thank us and let us know what this meant to them and their children and their families as they begin to rebuild their lives is something that had such an impact on all of our lives. Certainly, the goal is to continue this for a long time.”

Last call

• Veteran reliever Alex Wilson passed his physical exam on Saturday morning, Counsell said, and will be on the Brewers’ Opening Day roster. The Brewers did not immediately announce Wilson’s one-year contract, perhaps because a corresponding 40-man roster move is required. With Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel set to open the season on the injured list, six bullpen spots are set with Wilson, Josh Hader, Matt Albers, Alex Claudio, Junior Guerra and Chase Anderson, so two spots remain for three in-house candidates (Jacob Barnes, Jake Petricka and Taylor Williams) or another outside acquisition.

• Jeffress is scheduled to throw another bullpen session Sunday and will be in Milwaukee for Opening Day. If he clears the next bullpen, the next step would be facing hitters, Counsell said.

• Erik Kratz will not travel with the Brewers to Montreal for the exhibitions. He is the Brewers’ third catcher, and the team only plans to carry two into the regular season, so he will remain in Arizona awaiting word whether he will be traded or placed on waivers before Opening Day.

“It’s similar to an out-of-options player, and we have probably been more open with him than the guy that is in the out-of-options world,” Counsell said.

Up next

Peralta, slated to start the Brewers’ second game of the regular season, will make his final tuneup against the D-backs on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. CT in the Brewers’ Cactus League finale. Albers, Anderson and Petricka will pitch in relief, and first-base coach Carlos Subero will stay back to manage. All of those men will head straight to Milwaukee later in the week for Opening Day. Sunday’s game will not be broadcast, but fans can follow along pitch-by-pitch via MLB.com Gameday.