Mar 30, 2019; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Christian Yelich (22) hits a home run during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park. Photo Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
To sum it up, Christian Yelich is the Cincinnati Reds’ problem now.
Yelich, who led Milwaukee to within one game of the World Series last season and won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award, hit a home run in all four games of the Brewers’ season-opening series against the St. Louis Cardinals in Milwaukee.
In Sunday’s game, Yelich added a two-run, walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 win, allowing the defending NL Central champions to take three out of four.
“I’ve never seen anyone this good at baseball for this long,” Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun told MLB.com. “I mean, maybe (Barry) Bonds in his prime. As great as (Mike) Trout is. I’ve seen (Albert) Pujols. …
“I think everybody should take the time to appreciate it, because what we’re witnessing is greatness.”
Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, who won’t have to deal with Yelich again until the teams meet again in mid-April, was asked whether the word “nuisance” might apply to having to face the MVP.
“I’d say nuisance is being kind,” Shildt told MLB.com. “We have to figure out a way to combat what he’s doing because he’s clearly more than a thorn in our side.”
The Brewers take their show on the road for a three-game series starting Monday in Cincinnati, where cozy Great American Ball Park is often kind to home run hitters, to put it mildly.
Tasked to slow down Yelich — who needs to homer in a fifth straight game to break out of a tie with the legendary Willie Mays of the Giants, Mark McGwire, Nelson Cruz and Trevor Story for homers in consecutive games to start a season — is Reds newcomer Tanner Roark, and they’re not strangers.
Yelich hasn’t taken the right-hander deep, but he does have a .282 lifetime average against him (11-39), with 11 walks.
Roark, who has a career 3.59 ERA entering his seventh season, the first six with the Washington Nationals, is 4-2 lifetime vs. Milwaukee in eight games, seven starts, with a 2.68 ERA. In 2018, he was 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA against Milwaukee.
Roark will be opposed by Milwaukee right-hander Zach Davies, who is 33-25 with a 4.04 ERA in his four previous seasons, all with the Brewers.
Davies, who had right shoulder injuries for much of last season, struggled to go 2-7, with a 4.77 ERA in 13 starts, but he has had success against the Reds, going 3-3 lifetime but with a 3.29 ERA in 10 starts.
He has started three games in Great American Ball Park and is 0-1, but he has a 2.04 ERA there, with 13 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings. Davies’ only start against the Reds last season was a win in Milwaukee, when he shut out the Reds on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.
A few Reds players have had some success against Davies. Jose Peraza is 5-for-15 with a home run; Scott Schebler is 4-for-11, with two home runs, and Joey Votto is 9-for-23 with a homer.
While the Reds split their opening series with the Pirates, after rain washed out Saturday’s game, a few hitters have yet to get it going.
Schebler is 0-7, newcomer Yasiel Puig is 0-7 with a walk, and Eugenio Suarez is 0-6 with two walks.
“The guys at the top of the order have a long track record; they’re working at it and trying to get settled in as we get the season going here. We’re confident in each and every guy in our lineup,” Reds manager David Bell told MLB.com.
