*Photo from Yahoo Sports*
It was a long time coming for Christian Yelich, but he's on the board. Yelich hitting a grand slam, Kolten Wong scored, and the Milwaukee Brewers cruised past the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 6-1 victory on Monday night in Milwaukee.
The grand slam marked the first home run of the season for Yelich, who has very notably been searching for his consistent power in recent seasons. It's a good sign for someone who is trying to get back to his NL MVP form of 2018, and this is a promising start toward that path. Yelich is a big part of the Brewers lineup, and he knows it.
Asked about finally getting a homer this season, after a few weeks, Yelich said that "You want to get rid of all those zeroes as fast as you can. It's out of your control, but it's definitely nice to get the first one, especially like that."
In the first inning, the Brewers got on the board immediately, with Wong scoring on a wild pitch to make it 1-0 Brewers, with Yelich at the plate. In the top of the 4th inning, Diego Castillo tied the game for the Pirates, making it 1-1 by sending a solo home run out to right field, the first home run of his MLB career, after fouling a pitch off himself earlier in the at bat.
Castillo said of his first MLB homer that "I dreamed about this moment. I’m proud that I got my first home run in the big leagues. I’m gonna add it to the best moment of my life list. It hurt a little bit in my knee, but I still had one more strike, and then in my mind, I said, ‘Hit the ball and run the basics, let’s see what happens.'"
In the bottom of the 4th, Wong flew out to center field, but it became a sac fly, as it was deep enough to score Omar Narvaez and give the Brewers a 2-1 lead. After Willy Adames got on base, Yelich took control, blasting a grand slam to right field, clearing the bases to put the Brewers up 6-1, and it stayed that way for good.
Brewers starter Eric Lauer said of Yelich that "It's a fun thing to see, isn't it? It's fun to watch him kind of be in that zone again and watch Yeli be Yeli. That's what everybody's used to seeing. That's what we expect out of him. I think there's only more to come."
Lauer did get the start for the Brewers, getting the win after allowing one run on 5 hits and one walk, striking out 5 hitters over 6 innings pitched, moving to 1-0 on the season. Jandel Gustave followed Lauer, pitching a scoreless 7th inning. Hoby Milner and Jose Urena came on for the 8th and 9th innings, each giving shutout innings of work.
Starting the game for the Pirates was Zach Thompson, who fell to 0-1 with a loss. Thompson allowed all 6 Brewers runs, issuing 6 hits and 4 walks, pitching 4 innings. Dillon Peters followed Thompson, pitching 3 shutout innings out of the bullpen. Aaron Fletcher then had a scoreless 8th to finish things off.
Up next, the Brewers and Pirates play game two of their series on Tuesday night. The Brewers will send ace Corbin Burnes to the mound, while JT Brubaker gets the ball for the Pirates.
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