MILWAUKEE -- Christian Yelich was driving the baseball with authority in the runup to his third career cycle on May 11 in Cincinnati. He hoped it was the start of a prolonged hot streak and the Brewers hoped the same. A month later, it’s clear that it still hasn’t come.

And so, the Brewers tried something different in Wednesday's game against the Phillies at American Family Field. Manager Craig Counsell slotted Yelich into the leadoff hole.

“We're switching it up,” Counsell said.

The initial result was more of the same. With a 10-0 loss, the Brewers were shut out for the third time during a losing streak that reached five games. Yelich went 1-for-4 with one of the team’s four singles, and when he stole second base in the sixth, he represented the only Brewers runner to reach scoring position all night.

Yelich was there for two minutes and 11 seconds before Luis Urías struck out to end the sixth inning.

“We've got a lineup full of guys not feeling great at the plate and not swinging it well,” Counsell said. “We scored runs at a pretty good clip for a large chunk of the season, so we just have to weather the storm, stay in the fight and keep at it. It will change.”

In the bigger picture, Yelich’s bump up the lineup was a chance to try something slightly different as he continues his long search for his 2018-19 level of production, before the fractured kneecap, before the mega contract extension, before the pandemic and the back trouble and the prolonged funk.

“It’s been hard,” said Yelich, who is hitting .224 with five home runs in 235 plate appearances and entered the day with a 93 wRC+ that ranked 117th out of 162 qualifying hitters. “A lot of long nights. But no one is trying to go out there and not play well. Everyone is trying their hardest. Baseball is a game where you can work as hard as you want, stay up as late as you want, watch as much video, work as hard as you want in the cage -- and it doesn’t guarantee you a single thing when the game starts. It’s been a really frustrating, long stretch for me, but you’ve just got to keep working. If you stop working, you’re guaranteed that you’re going to suck. If you keep working, you might have a chance for it to get better.

“You just have to kind of block out the noise. I understand the disappointment in myself and the way we’ve performed offensively this year.”

Yelich declined to get into the specifics of his ongoing mechanical adjustments. He rarely takes batting practice on the field, but he was out early on Wednesday with hitting coach Ozzie Timmons in order to see the results of his work in a stadium setting. A couple of times a year, Yelich does that.

“I think, mentally, he's fine,” Counsell said. “He's played every day, his health has been good. That's an important part of this. The last three weeks, he hasn't swung the bat very well. He hasn't driven the ball like you'd want. He did have stretches this year when he did, and I think that's a reason to be optimistic, but he's trying to get it going. Like a lot of our guys, he’s trying to get it going.”

What has Counsell seen in Yelich’s recent at-bats?

“This is not a Yelich issue, this is just a baseball swing issue. If the ball is getting deep on you, it means you're not going to be able to hit the ball in the air,” Counsell said. “That's what driving the ball is. You're seeing a lot of opposite-field ground balls, hard-hit. That's what you saw last night. He's just getting beat. That's always been Christian's thing. He's tall, he has long levers. Syncing up all of that is always going to be more challenging for somebody with long levers.”

Yelich became a superstar with the Brewers when he started hitting the ball in the air more. This year, his ground-ball rate is back up to 55.2% -- near what it was in his final season with the Marlins.

How does a hitter get out of that?

“Practice. You practice,” Counsell said. “What do you want? That’s how you get out of it. You practice. That’s what he’s doing. We all know he’s doing that a lot. I don’t have the answer for you. Christian doesn’t have the answer for you.”

The concept of failure was at front of mind around American Family Field this week. On Tuesday night, closer Josh Hader surrendered a pair of home runs and suffered his first blown save in 33 tries dating to last season. Hader said failure “comes with the game, comes with the territory.”

That’s true of closers and it’s true of franchise players. Yelich is aware of that. From the day he hit for the cycle for the third time in his career through Tuesday, when he singled twice and scored two runs in the Brewers’ 3-2 loss, he batted .180 with two extra-base hits and one RBI in 23 games.

“You’ve just got to keep going,” Yelich said. “I’ve had it in the past where it comes back in the on-deck circle or on a foul ball or in an at-bat; you just never know when it’s going to click for you. So you’ve just got to keep working for those moments, little victories and stuff you feel confident in.”