MILWAUKEE -- Ryan Braun joined the launch-angle revolution over the winter, and in a big spot Friday night against the Cardinals, it was time for liftoff.

Braun smashed a misplaced slider from Cardinals up-and-comer Jack Flaherty for a game-tying, two-out, three-run home run in the third inning of Milwaukee's 9-5 loss to St. Louis at Miller Park, the most tangible evidence so far in this small sample of a season that his offseason work was worth it. Braun's home run left the bat at 108 mph with a 30-degree launch angle, and it traveled a projected 424 feet, according to Statcast.

Last year, Braun posted the lowest batting average (.254) and on-base percentage (.313) of his career with the second-lowest slugging percentage (.469), despite peripherals that proved he was hitting the baseball as hard as ever. For example, Statcast uses exit velocity, launch angle and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed, to determine a player’s expected slugging percentage. In Braun’s case, that figure was .520, not far from his actually career mark of .535.

A better measure of offensive success is Weighted On-base Average (wOBA), which for Braun was a career-low .330. But his expected wOBA according to Statcast, was .370, and that 40-point differential was seventh-greatest in the Major Leagues.

Braun decided that some swing changes could help turn line drive outs into hits, so he worked at least three days a week with swing guru Brad Boyer, who is known in baseball circles for helping a number of players use technology to perfect their mechanics.

“They are pretty subtle changes,” Braun said in Spring Training. “But it’s something I hope everybody recognizes at the end of the season in the end results. I feel good about where I’m at. I feel confident about the changes I made. I feel like what I was doing was still working.

“If you look at the batted ball profile … exit velocity, line-drive rate, hard-hit percentage, all of that stuff is still elite. So if I’m able to make some subtle adjustments and subtle changes, hopefully I can maximize my success in that batted ball profile.”

Friday marked a good start.

“Hitting behind Christian [Yelich] is going to be a challenge. You’re going to have lots of spots like that,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s definitely capable of it. Getting off to a good start is always a good feeling. Making a swing change and producing results in the first couple games is good feedback for him to know that it’s something that’s going to stick.” 

Asked to describe Braun’s tweak, Counsell put it like this: “I noticed a change to his ball flight in batting practice. That’s the best way to describe how I see it. His intent is to be able to cover more parts of the strike zone, different parts of the strike zone that he sees he’s been pitched to a lot. He’s a very talented hitter, so that’s a good place to start.”