Yelich's mad dash from first to home a 'rare, crazy' play 

MILWAUKEE -- Christian Yelich couldn’t remember the last time he slid three times during one baserunning play. Little League, perhaps?

“Yeah, maybe,” Yelich said with a chuckle. “Maybe not ever. It’s been a little while.”

The next time he does it, he’ll have a memory to look back on.

Yelich took an eventful turn around the bases in Sunday’s 9-6 win over the Royals at American Family Field, scoring from first on a stolen-base attempt that eventually had him slide into second, third and home plate.

It was just one of Yelich’s key contributions on the afternoon, as he helped Milwaukee wrap up a three-game sweep of Kansas City with a 2-for-4 game, also hitting a leadoff homer and RBI single.

“You have a player that can hit homers and steal bases,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s such a smart baserunner, a good baserunner with when he picks his spots. He’s been really good stealing bases this year. He's always really good stealing bases.

“Just that threat of both of those things is what makes you a great player.”

The Royals led 4-1 entering the bottom of the third inning, and Yelich cut the deficit to two with a groundball RBI single to right field. With nobody out, he saw an opportunity to get into scoring position and took off for second.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez’s throw to second deflected off shortstop Maikel Garcia’s glove and into shallow center field. That allowed Joey Weimer to score, but Yelich, who slid headfirst into the bag and lost his helmet, scrambled to his feet and took off for third.

Center fielder Nate Eaton’s throw got past third baseman Hunter Dozier and trickled up the foul line toward the plate. After hesitating for a moment, Yelich was off to the races again. He slid in ahead of Dozier's flip to Perez to tie things at 4.

“It was a good throw,” Dozier said. “The ball was coming and Yelich was sliding at the exact same time. It just got caught up in the runner, and I tried to block it up. One of those plays that was just tough.”

“It's just kind of how it played out, one of those rare, crazy baseball plays,” Yelich said. “You’re just kind of looking for the ball, see it kind of skirting around everywhere out there, and you just have to make a judgment whether you can make it to the next base.”

Yelich got up and spread both arms out wide and smiled, celebrating the play with Jesse Winker -- who seemed to get a kick out of watching his teammate fly around the bases.

“I was laughing at Winker at home,” Yelich said. “He was laughing. We're always kind of going back and forth in here, so I just pointed at him and smiled.”

Yelich’s first plate appearance, on any given day, would likely go down as the top highlight. He led off the bottom of the first with a 433-foot solo home run that registered a 113.5 mph exit velocity, according to Statcast.

The drive tied the game at 1; Perez hit a solo homer in the top half of the frame. It was Yelich’s fourth homer of May -- he hit two on Saturday -- as he continues to have an impressive month. In 12 games, he holds a .348/.400/.630 slash line.

The Brewers additionally got big contributions from Brice Turang, who hit a three-run homer to cap off the seven-run third, and Eric Lauer.

Lauer, whose turn in the rotation was skipped this weekend, with no immediate plans beyond that, came out of the bullpen and threw 5 1/3 innings to pick up starter Colin Rea. Lauer allowed two runs on two hits -- a pair of solo homers in the ninth.

“That was a huge game from Lauer for us,” Counsell said. “For him to finish that game, with kind of the way it started, is a real credit to him. He was thrown into something different today and I don't think when he went in the game [that] we were expecting anything like that. He came out and just was excellent.”

Sunday wrapped up an overall good weekend for the Brewers. Their sweep of Kansas City is their first series win since April 28-30 against the Angels. It comes after Milwaukee started the month of May 2-7.

Now, a six-game road trip against the Cardinals and MLB-leading Rays awaits.

“It's big,” Lauer said of this weekend’s sweep. “It's nice, and it's what we're used to doing. It's what we should be doing. We played a lot of really good team baseball this whole series and hopefully it just launches us forward.”