Christian Yelich woke up Tuesday having never hit a walk-off home run in his 12-plus season MLB career.
He ended the drought in grand fashion Tuesday night.
With his Milwaukee Brewers and the Boston Red Sox knotted in a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 10th inning, Yelich tripled the game’s run tally with one swing of his bat.
After Jorey Ortiz was given second base because it was extra innings, the Brewers loaded the bases with a Brice Turang single and a Jackson Chourio walk. William Contreras flied out, bringing Yelich to the plate.
Yelich watched a first-pitch ball and a second-pitch strike without a swing. When Liam Hendricks left a third-pitch slider over the heart of the plate, Yelich unleashed. And there was no doubt about this one.
As soon as Yelich made contact, the entirety of American Family Field knew it was gone. The ball traveled deep over the right field wall for a walk-off grand slam and a 5-1 Brewers win.
Before that blast, Yelich had hit 213 career home runs in the regular season. None of them were of the walk-off variety. Now Yelich knows one of the best feelings in baseball that he didn’t before.
“It was kind of a weird feeling going around the bases knowing that the game’s over,” Yelich told reporters postgame. “Obviously, I’ve never done that before.”
Yelich’s heroics provided the Brewers with a much-needed win as they improved to .500 at 28-28 in a crowded NL Central and race for the NL wild card. They also provided a boost to the former MVP, who’s off to a slow start this season and entered Tuesday’s game flirting with the Mendoza Line with a .205/.294/.364 slash line with nine home runs and 30 RBI.
Yelich finished the night going 2 for 5 at the plate with two runs scored and the grand slam providing all four of his RBI.
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