Scoring change takes hit away from Yelich

ATLANTA -- Marlins rookie left fielder Christian Yelich is piling up hits of late, as he rides an eight-game hitting streak entering Friday's series opener against the Braves.

But on Friday, the 21-year-old had a hit taken away, due to a scoring change.

The reversal wipes away Yelich's third hit of his MLB debut, which took place on July 23 against the Rockies at Coors Field.

By overturning that hit, Yelich officially went 2-for-4 instead of 3-for-4. The change also means Mike Redmond, Miami's manager, remains the only player in franchise history to start his MLB career with three straight hits.

Rather than having that third hit off Jhoulys Chacin, which occurred in the fifth inning, an error has been charged to Colorado second baseman DJ LeMahieu. The irony is the error didn't remove an RBI for Yelich, or create an unearned run for Chacin, who was on the losing end that day to Jose Fernandez.

What it did improve was Chacin's WHIP (walks/hits per nine innings).

"My first reaction was, 'Oh, well,'" Yelich said. "I don't care. Obviously, you want to take all the ones that you can, but it happens."

Rated by MLB.com as the Marlins' top prospect, Yelich has been heating up. He had a three-hit game, including his first big league homer, on Thursday in Miami's 5-4 loss in 10 innings at Pittsburgh.

Yelich's revised batting average since he was promoted from Double-A Jacksonville is now .303 (20-for-66) entering Friday. He extended his hit streak to nine games with a leadoff single Friday night against the Braves.

The Marlins joked that the change restores Redmond's team mark. Pitcher Tom Koehler poked his head in Redmond's office, and said he saw how the manager swayed the scorer.

"You see how I work now," Redmond joked.

Even though a hit was taken away at Colorado, Yelich has two three-hit games in his brief big league career. He went 3-for-5 against the Indians on Aug. 2, to go along with his performance on Thursday at Pittsburgh.

Generally speaking, Redmond isn't a big fan of such changes weeks after the game.

"I think it's crazy," the first-year Miami manager said. "The way I understand it, the players, through their agents, can go appeal a play, if it is scored incorrectly. I guess I don't really have a comment. But I never was a big fan of guys being more concerned as to whether they got a hit in the game. Then again, the game is so numbers based now. Pitchers are worried about their WHIP. All that stuff is money."