Baseball.
Yelich’s three-run shot off Phillies reliever Tanner Banks in the fifth inning turned a 3-2 nail-biter into a 6-2 cushion, and the Brewers never looked back. He added a little bonus in the ninth — a towering solo shot into the second deck in right field off Carlos Hernandez, his 12th of the season and his 12th career multi-homer game. Go figure.
Before the blast off Banks, Yelich was hitting .147 against left-handers this season. That number, at least, got a jolt.
Milwaukee needed just six innings from Quinn Priester, who came on after opener D.L. Hall threw three no-hit frames. Priester (2-2) allowed four hits and two runs, but that was more than enough for a Brewers club that has now won five straight.
And this wasn’t just any win. This was a win over the best team in the National League. A team that had not lost back-to-back games in more than a month. And the Brewers did it by holding the Phillies to just four hits — one of which was a Nick Castellanos solo homer in the fifth.
Williams Contreras and Sal Frelick chipped in with RBIs. Jackson Chourio had two hits, scored twice, and helped stir the pot on the bases as Milwaukee swiped five bags — the most allowed by the Phillies in a game this season.
Meanwhile, the Phillies were again without Bryce Harper, who missed his third straight game after taking a 95-mph Spencer Strider fastball off his surgically repaired right elbow on Tuesday.
Harper did field ground balls at first base for about 20 minutes before Friday’s game, but he has yet to resume swinging.
“Still super sore,” Harper said in the clubhouse. “Obviously doing treatment. Not sure when I’m gonna play again.
“He hit me in a pretty bad spot. The swelling’s gone down, which is good, but it’s a pretty tough spot where he got me. Just trying to be smart about it.”
Taijuan Walker (2-4), making what may have been his final start before a bullpen move, lasted just four innings and gave up four runs.
The Phillies now have dropped two in a row for the first time since April 25.
