MILWAUKEE -- Christian Yelich was so bad on Monday, striking out three times in each game of the Brewers’ doubleheader split against the Cardinals, that manager Craig Counsell considered whether his slumping slugger needed a day off in the interest of mental wellness. It’s a thought that rarely crossed Counsell’s mind in Yelich’s first two years in a Brewers uniform, and one that felt particularly out of place Tuesday with Milwaukee struggling to score runs in the midst of a postseason chase and playing one of the teams further up the standings.

Counsell brushed the thought aside and penciled Yelich into left field, batting second. It was the right call. Yelich hit a solo home run in the first inning, Ryan Braun followed with another, and the Brewers’ on-again, off-again offense was on again in an 18-3 win over the Cardinals at Miller Park.

• Box score

Yelich had a season-high three hits and the Brewers had a 10-run lead -- and that was just through four innings. Yelich reached safely four times in all, Keston Hiura and Daniel Vogelbach each homered and tallied four RBIs, and the Brewers scored more runs against the Cardinals than ever before -- their previous high was 13 -- on a night that got heated along the way.

All beginning with Yelich’s 10th home run.

“You're not going to see a happy player after the stretch of games that Christian has had, but I'll always believe in him,” Counsell said prior to the game. “The way I felt today, it's a big game for us, he's healthy and he's got as good a chance as anybody to make a difference in this game.”

A big difference, it turned out. Yelich and Braun kick-started an offense that, after scoring 19 runs last Wednesday at Detroit, scored seven total runs in the next five games while batting .139 and going 1-for-22 with runners in scoring position. On Sunday, the Brewers were on the wrong end of a no-hitter by the Cubs’ Alec Mills.

Two days later, the Brewers scored 18 runs on 15 hits against Jack Flaherty and the Cardinals. Flaherty had surrendered nine earned runs in his first six starts this season before giving up nine earned runs in three-plus innings against the Brewers.

“It was uncanny how well they read him,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “They were taking some really close pitches, to their credit, evidently.”

Yelich’s explanation for the Brewers’ strange offense?

“Baseball,” he said. “It's hard to explain a lot of things. You never know. You don't come into a game that Jack's starting thinking you're going to score 18. ... It's a funny game in a funny year.”

Yelich indicated he never discussed with Counsell the idea of a day off, and the outfielder said he wouldn’t have wanted to miss an important game in the stretch run. He did get a mental break earlier in this condensed 2020 season after a 1-for-27 start, and he joked at the time that it was really for Counsell, “so he didn't have to watch that anymore.”

Now, Yelich had slipped into another deep funk. Including Monday’s miserable twin bill, Yelich had struck out three times in four of his last five games. His strikeout rate this season was 32.8 percent entering Tuesday, up from 20.7 percent in 2018 and 20.3 percent in ’19. His contact rate was the eighth-lowest among MLB’s qualifying hitters for the season at 65.4 percent -- and it was headed in the wrong direction. From the date of Yelich’s last home run on Sept. 1 through Monday’s doubleheader, his 52.6 percent contact rate was lowest in the Majors.

“I certainly thought about [a day off],” Counsell said. “In the end, there's a lot of factors that go into it, and one of the things is always health. I think he's healthy.”

That question has been asked more than a time or two this year, considering Yelich missed the end of 2019 after fouling a pitch off his right leg and sustaining a fractured kneecap.

Are his legs under him this year? Yes, Yelich and Counsell have said repeatedly. That injury is not the source of his 2020 troubles.

“I think there are times when guys need mental breaks, there's no question about it,” Counsell said. “I also think Christian Yelich in the lineup still makes a difference.”

On Wednesday, Yelich made a difference. After the home run, he hit a pair of well-struck singles the other way, then walked. He scored three runs.

“Yeli is showing that anyone can struggle,” said Brewers infielder Jedd Gyorko on Tuesday afternoon. “He’s grinding it out every single day. He still wants to be in there. He’s not asking for days off and stuff like that. He knows what’s ahead of us and hopefully he can get it going.”