Yelich homers, Priester deals to cap homestand

On the heels of hit batters and postgames barbs exchanged, the Milwaukee Brewers made a conscious decision heading into the series finale with the St. Louis Cardinals of avoiding any further drama. 

With their play doing the talking, the Brewers wrapped up a series win June 15 at American Family Field. 

Christian Yelich hit a solo home run in the fourth inning as the offense did just enough to back starter Quinn Priester, and Trevor Megill escaped a teeth-grinder of a ninth inning to secure a 3-2 win and cap the longest homestand of the year. 

Ninth inning escape act

Megill had all 40,629 of a sellout crowd on pins and needles from the jump in the ninth, but escaped the precarious situation by fanning three straight Cardinals with the go-ahead run on base. 

Nolan Arenado opened the inning by winning a 12-pitch battle against Megill, stroking a 100.4 mph fastball up the middle for a leadoff single. When Nolan Gorman followed with a bunt single, Megill found himself backed up against a wall. 

BOX SCORE: Brewers 3, Cardinals 2

The Brewers closer pushed his way out by force. He struck out Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn in succession, then capped it off with an emphatic fist pump as catcher William Contreras heaved the ball to the upper deck.

Contreras’ error benefits the Brewers

A misplay by Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras, who was at the center of the jawing with the Brewers the day prior, turned into a key run in the seventh. After Caleb Durbin led off with a single and moved to second on Drew Avans’ tapper, Joey Ortiz bounced a weak chopper to Contreras, who fumbled it as he tried to field it to allow Ortiz to reach.

That proved costly when Sal Frelick, one batter later, tapped another weak infield grounder that scored Durbin from third.

That gave the Brewers a short-lived 3-1 lead, as Ivan Herrera socked a two-out solo homer off Jared Koenig in the eighth.

Quinn Priester is phenomenal… again

All the evidence continues to point to Quinn Priester having turned a corner.

With another six innings of one-run ball, the Brewers 24-year-old righty lowered his earned run average to 2.23 over his last eight outings. Priester once again didn’t allow a single walk, which dipped his walk rate during that span to a paltry 5.6%. That’s been a gigantic area of improvement for Priester during his time with Milwaukee; he walked 19 across his first seven outings with the club but has issued only seven in the seven games since.

The sinker-slider specialist continued to churn out ground balls, as well, and raised his grounder rate since May 2 to 60%.

Christian Yelich leaves the yard

After some small ball got the Cardinals in front with a run in the top of the fourth, Christian Yelich got the run back with one swing in the bottom half. St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas had struck out six until Yelich took him deep with an opposite-field blast that drew the score even at 1-1.

The homer extended Yelich’s team-leading total to 14. The Brewers then grabbed the lead later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Drew Avans, who recorded his first career RBI with the deep fly to right.

What time is the Brewers game today?

Time: 1:10 p.m.

What channel is the Brewers game on today?

TV Channel: FanDuel Sports Wisconsin, Telemundo.

Brewers lineup

• Sal Frelick RF
• Jackson Chourio CF
• William Contreras C
• Christian Yelich DH
• Rhys Hoskins 1B
• Brice Turang 3B
• Caleb Durbin 3B
• Drew Avans LF
• Joey Ortiz SS

Cardinals lineup

• Brendan Donovan 2B
• Ivan Herrera C
• Alec Burleson LF
• Willson Contreras 1B
• Nolan Arenado 3B
• Nolan Gorman DH
• Jordan Walker RF
• Victor Scott II CF
• Jose Barrero SS

Brewers schedule

Off day, June 16.

Brewers at Cubs, 7:05 p.m. June 17. Milwaukee TBA vs. Chicago TBA. TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin, FOX6. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.

Brewers at Cubs, 7:05 p.m. June 18. Milwaukee TBA vs. Chicago TBA. TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.

Brewers at Cubs, 1:20 p.m. June 19. Milwaukee TBA vs. Chicago TBA. TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.