ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Christian Yelich returned to the lineup for the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night after their designated hitter missed five games because of lower back soreness.
Yelich was batting fourth when the Brewers, with the best record in baseball, opened a three-game series at the playoff-chasing Texas Rangers.
The 33-year-old Yelich had played in 132 of Milwaukee’s 144 games this season before the opener in Texas, and was hitting .268 with team highs of 27 home runs and 92 RBIs. He played in only 73 games last year before season-ending back surgery that August.
“Feels good, wants to play. It’s an amazing thing that he’s played so many games,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Coming off back surgery, we just didn’t know what we were going to get, but the surgeon has assured him this is going to happen, but it’s amazing that it hadn’t happened yet, so we have to be thankful.”
Yelich was a late scratch last Wednesday before a 6-3 win over Philadelphia, and Murphy said then that Yelich had started experiencing some pain during a series against Arizona late last month. He still appeared in 22 consecutive games before coming out of the lineup last week.
“He came to me today and said, ‘I’m in there, right?’,” Murphy said. “He wants to play. That’s a good thing when your leader wants to get in there as soon as possible.”
Yelich was making his 112th start at DH, and has also started 18 games in left field this season. Murphy said while “there’s a reason” to get Yelich a couple of games in the outfield before the end of the regular season, the manager said that’s not a priority.
Yelich was the 2018 National League MVP, the season he won the first of back-to-back league batting titles. He was an All-Star for the third-time last season and was hitting .315, then tops in the NL when he played his last game July 23.
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