MILWAUKEE -- When Ryan Braun limped off the field during the fourth inning Friday, perhaps for the last time at Miller Park depending on his balky back, everything was going wrong for the Brewers.

They faced a three-run deficit. Braun had committed an error in the third that, in addition to showing how physically compromised he was, led to a Royals run. And before that, Brewers catcher Jacob Nottingham bounced a throw past second base in the first inning that gave Kansas City its third run before Milwaukee starter Adrian Houser recorded his second out. The Brewers did not look like a team feeling the urgency with 10 days remaining in a playoff race.

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All it took was a few big swings to make everything -- well, most things -- right again.

Christian Yelich sparked a comeback from a four-run deficit with a home run that led to a six-run inning, Nottingham punctuated it with a go-ahead grand slam -- the first for a Brewers catcher in six years -- and Orlando Arcia added a three-run homer in Milwaukee's 9-5 win against the Royals. In the end, the early innings were an afterthought.

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“Six runs will do that,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “That’ll generally turn games around.”

The Brewers needed the victory to keep pace in the race for second place in the National League Central with the Reds, who won their sixth straight game on Friday, and the Cardinals, who swept a doubleheader. The Reds are 26-26, the Cardinals are 24-24 and the Brewers are 24-26.

Good health will help, and the Brewers ended the day with worry not only for Braun, but for his replacement.

Braun, clearly hobbled on the basepaths and in right field in the opener of the final home series of the final guaranteed season of Braun’s contract, exited with low back tightness in favor of pinch-runner Ben Gamel in the fourth inning following Braun’s second single of the night. Gamel stayed in the game and hit a pair of doubles, then exited with an injury of his own -- a flare-up of a quad issue that has bothered him all season, Counsell said. Brewers reliever Eric Yardley also limped off the field with a bruised right shin from a comebacker; X-rays were negative.

Back and core injuries have dogged Braun in recent seasons, especially since back surgery following the 2015 season. Various ailments limited Braun to 30 of the Brewers’ first 50 games this season, but he was in the midst of another September surge, going 13-for-32 to start the month -- including his 350th career home run on Wednesday -- and two more hits Friday before his exit.

Braun hobbled to first base on both of his singles and was similarly slow-moving in right field. In the third inning, he fielded Adalberto Mondesi’s base hit and bounced a soft throw toward second base for an error that allowed Mondesi to advance, putting Mondesi in scoring position for Salvador Perez’s RBI single as the Brewers fell into a 4-0 deficit.

“His back, it kind of started tightening up right close to game time. He wasn’t in good shape as we were starting,” Counsell said. “He and I talked and ... with how their team is structured, I said, 'Let’s see what two at-bats look like and we’ll go from there.' It was getting progressively worse, so we got him out of there.

“But he helped us win the game, I feel like. We’ll see how he is [Saturday].”

Just two days earlier, Braun spoke of feeling as healthy as he had been all year. That’s the nature of a bad back; one never knows when it is going to tighten up.

“I was optimistic going into this last stretch,” Counsell said.

Braun’s single in the fourth inning was part of a comeback. It followed Yelich’s leadoff home run, and later in the inning, Nottingham's go-ahead grand slam for a 6-4 Milwaukee lead. It was the Brewers’ first grand slam this season, and the first slam for a Brewers catcher since Jonathan Lucroy in June 2014 at Arizona, on the night the D-backs famously plunked Braun with a pitch to load the bases.

Also on the list: Royals manager Mike Matheny, who hit two grand slams as Milwaukee’s catcher, and current Brewers TV analyst Bill Schroeder, who hit one.

“With two outs, you're just trying to get somebody across the board just to get something going,” Nottingham said. “So to be able to barrel that ball up and have it go over was awesome. I was just trying to bring some spark to the team, and I think we did a great job after that, of having good energy. Some guys hit some homers, and that's exactly what we needed.”