MILWAUKEE -- That power stroke? Christian Yelich couldn't have picked a better time to find it again.
Quiet for much of the National League Championship Series, Yelich powered the Brewers to an early lead in Game 7 on Saturday by rocketing a solo home run off Walker Buehler in the first inning. The homer was Yelich's first of the series, and his first since Game 1 of the NL Division Series against the Rockies.
Milwaukee sprinted into the postseason largely on the back of Yelich, whose monster second half propelled him to the front of the race for the NL Most Valuable Player Award. He hit 36 home runs in the regular season and led all NL hitters in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS.

But Yelich cooled off following his postseason-opening homer against Colorado, and entered play on Saturday hitting .167 with five walks across 29 plate appearances in this series. His homer gave the Brewers a 1-0 advantage, and the early lead they were looking for, although it evaporated when Cody Bellinger took Jhoulys Chacin deep in the top of the second to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Yelich earned his homer. The 98.4-mph fastball from Buehler was the hardest pitch Yelich has homered on in his career, according to Statcast™. The resulting liner squeaked over the wall in right-center, just beyond the reach of a leaping Yasiel Puig.