Yelich HRs again, showing more progress

MILWAUKEE -- Christian Yelich made it back-to-back nights with a home run, and this time, the baseball even cleared the fence.

Yelich’s opposite-field, two-run home run in the eighth inning of Friday’s 8-3 loss to Trevor Bauer and the Reds didn’t alter the outcome, but it did provide another building block for a player trying to emerge from an early-season slump.

• Box score

“With Christian, what people don’t see is he never really backs off,” Brewers hitting coach Andy Haines said. “You almost want less from him, not more. I know that sounds a little crazy because he’s been scuffling, but just what he puts himself through every day to make it look easy most of the time is pretty remarkable. Because his days are never easy.

“So to see him scuffle, people in Milwaukee now know he’s human. They have not seen that yet. But his daily routine is not going to change. When he has his epic days, he comes back the next day and puts himself through a lot. So now, when he ‘wears’ not getting results and also what he puts himself through, the days are a total grind for him.”

Recent days have been a grind for too many of the Brewers’ hitters, notwithstanding Thursday’s season-high for hits and runs in a win vs. the White Sox. Bauer did his part to bring that unit back down on Friday, striking out 12 in six innings and holding the Brewers scoreless, aside from Logan Morrison’s first home run in a Brewers uniform, in the fourth inning.

By then, Brewers hitters were already swinging the bats from behind, after Yelich missed a chance on defense to help Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer avoid a six-run outburst in the second inning. It went in the books as an RBI double for Kyle Farmer that was hit hard right at Yelich, who got turned around and recovered to get a glove on the ball, but couldn’t make the catch. Five more Reds runs scored before Lauer could escape.

The Brewers fell to 5-6 overall and 0-3 at home, and they were held to three or fewer runs for the sixth time in their first 11 games. They struck out a season-high 16 times, which marks only the 20th time in franchise history that Brewers hitters have whiffed that much in a nine-inning game.

Getting Yelich going -- his weighted runs created plus (wRC+) is up to 77 -- would help fuel an offense also waiting for Keston Hiura (86 wRC+), Omar Narváez (74 wRC+) and Justin Smoak (16 wRC+) to find their stride.

“I think anybody will tell you, an opposite-field home run is a good swing,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “You don’t fall into an opposite-field home run. That’s certainly a good sign.”

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Haines has seen plenty of Yelich’s opposite-field home runs over the years. They go all the way back to Greensboro, N.C., a decade ago, when Yelich was an 18-year-old Marlins prospect in his first pro season and Haines was his manager. So it was especially fascinating on Friday afternoon to hear Haines describe what has been happening behind the scenes with Yelich in concert with assistant hitting coach Jacob Cruz and Counsell.

Earlier in the week, Haines saw it coming before Counsell decided to leave Yelich out of the lineup on Wednesday in Chicago in the interest of mental wellness. Days like that can be useful for a hitter, Haines said, to either take a day off entirely and give the mind a break, or to take swings in the batting cage or on the field without the stress of that night’s game bearing down.

The Brewers gave Yelich a say in the matter, Haines said, and Yelich quickly dismissed the idea of a complete day off. So he worked in the cage and on the field, and the next night brought results. Yelich saw 29 pitches in the Brewers’ 8-3 win over the White Sox on Thursday, as he walked four times and saw a routine fly ball down the left-field line become an inside-the-park home run when Chicago outfielder Eloy Jiménez tumbled into the netting.

Back in the dugout, Yelich’s self-deprecating nature emerged. But Haines reminded Yelich of times he watched a home run pulled back by a leaping outfielder -- remember Mike Trout last year in Anaheim? -- and urged Yelich to enjoy the moment.

“I know it’s been a little surreal for people to see it, that he’s human,” Haines said. “The reality is that people who’ve been around the game, the game doesn’t discriminate. Nobody’s above it. It’s going to test you. It’s going to borderline torture you. That’s why we all believe in these clichés and talk about toughness and perseverance. The game demands it. We all rave about Christian’s qualities, and they’re showing up. [Thursday] night was a great night, a step in the right direction.”

And Friday brought another.