Yelich hits grand slam, drives in six to help Brewers past Washington

Christian Yelich’s bat came alive as Milwaukee beat Washington 9-6 Saturday afternoon at a packed American Family Field.

Mired in a season-long slump at the plate, Yelich had shown signs of life in the past week. But he really busted out against the Nationals. He hit a solo home run in the first inning, his first homer since July 18. He brought in a second run with a single in the fifth and then delivered a monster blow in the eighth inning with his third career grand slam to give Milwaukee a 9-4 lead.

Things got a little dicey in the ninth after Miguel Sanchez loaded the bases with no outs, but Josh Hader came in, limiting the damage to two runs as the Brewers beat the Nationals for a 15th time in their last 21 meetings.

Yelich finished 3-for-5 with six RBI. It was his first multi-home run game since Aug. 17, 2019 and the most RBI he’s had since bringing in seven on April 15, 2019. In his last nine games, Yelich is batting .361 with eight RBI and seven runs scored. He’s raised his season batting average from .229 on Aug. 12 to .244 after his performance Saturday.

Kolton Wong had a pair of hits and scored twice, while Omar Narvaez had a pair of hits for the Brewers.

It took seven pitchers to get the job done for Milwaukee, including starter Eric Lauer going 4 1/3 innings and giving up three runs on five hits. Jake Cousins, Brad Boxberger and Devin Williams each worked a scoreless inning for the Crew.

Milwaukee snapped a two-game skid with the win and moved to eight games up on Cincinnati in the NL Central.

The Brewers will go for the series win over the Nationals Sunday afternoon.