Notes: Christian Yelich feels lucky to avoid serious injury when hit by pitch Sunday
ST. LOUIS – Christian Yelich felt he dodged a bullet Sunday, or more accurately, a speeding baseball.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ most valuable player candidate was drilled above his right elbow by a pitch from Pittsburgh reliever Michael Feliz in the seventh inning, the ball striking just above the joint and therefore allowing Yelich to escape serious injury.
“We got lucky. We’re a few inches away from it being a lot bigger deal than it was,” Yelich said Monday afternoon in the visiting clubhouse before the Brewers opened a pivotal three-game series against St. Louis.
“It missed the bone. We got lucky. I’m fortunate it’s nothing more than a bruised or a little puffiness.”
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Yelich was not pleased that Feliz was left in the game for a second inning when having very little control of his pitches. When he entered the game in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs, he walked two consecutive hitters to force in runs, then uncorked a wild pitch that was so bad it allowed three runners to score, with Feliz getting an error for missing a return throw to the plate.
Feliz then came up and in on Yelich in the seventh, drilling him on the arm.
“Obviously, it’s a frustrating situation,” he said. “I wasn’t very pleased at the time, for many reasons. But I’m good to go.”
Yelich had a more pleasant topic to discuss Monday as he was named National League player of the week for the third time this season. He batted .544 last week with a 1.706 OPS, seven runs scored, two home runs, seven RBI and hit for the cycle for the second time in less than three weeks, both against Cincinnati.
“It’s a cool honor but it kind of gets lost in what we’ve got at stake as a team,” Yelich said. “Obviously, you’ll take it. It’s always nice to be honored among your peers. But we’ve got a huge week ahead of us.”
As for helping lift the playoff-minded Brewers with his strong finish, Yelich said, “That’s basically what you’re going out trying to do every night. Help the team win.
“We’re playing in a lot of really big games right now. This entire last month, every single game has counted for us and we’ve needed every one. That’s been the focus; that’s been the mind set. And it’s going to remain so this last week.”
Asked about preparing for the huge series against the Cardinals, Yelich said, “Same way we’ve been all year. People are going to want to blow it up as being the biggest series of the year, and incredibly big for us. I’m not saying it isn’t, but they’ve all been really big for us. Every one for the last two weeks we’ve heard, ‘This is the biggest series of the year.’
“This is nothing really new for us. There’s no reason to change how you prepare or go about the day, just because we’re nearing the end. They’re just more magnified down the stretch when everything is sorted out and becomes more clear. In a way, there’s a lot of truth to that statement.
“There’s no shying away from it or deflecting it. You just embrace it and go play. What are you going to do besides that? We’re playing them no matter what. But don’t get caught up in the six games. Play them one at a time. We’ll see where we are in a week.”
Not reinventing the wheel: With the Brewers starting reliever Dan Jennings against the Cardinals instead of Chase Anderson, the originally scheduled starter, there was talk of going to the “opener” modus operandi made famous this year by Tampa Bay. The Rays often started relievers, most prominently Sergio Romo, before going to multi-inning pitchers behind him.
But Tampa Bay had an injury-depleted rotation and thought that was the best way to proceed. Brewers manager Craig Counsell considered going with Jennings and a gang of many the best way to try to win this particular game against St. Louis.
“You can call it whatever you want,” Counsell said. “We’re going to try to get hitters out with a bunch of relievers. A bunch of pitchers. There’s going to be some guys to get more outs, some guys to get less outs.
“We feel like the strength of our pitching right now is we have a lot of guys we can count on. That’s what we’re trying to use to our advantage. We feel there are a lot of guys doing a nice job, and we can depend on that.”
As for using an “opener” on a regular basis, Counsell said, “We’ll always look for a better way to get through a game. We’re using our players’ skills to the best of their abilities. The 25-man roster puts a lot of limitations in the National League on doing that.
“That’s why you haven’t seen it employed as much in the National League. In my eyes, it’s a more difficult proposition in the National League, from April through August.”