Brewers news: Christian Yelich's vintage HR, JoJo Romero's debut, Cooper Pratt injury update

After a blowout loss to the Chicago Cubs in Monday's series opener, the Milwaukee Brewers righted the ship with a dominant win over their arch-rivals last night. The Brewers, who didn't score until the fifth inning, plated nine runs during the second half of the game, leading to a 9-4 win for the best team in baseball.

Tuesday night's victory restored the Brewers' NL Central lead to 8.0 games and lowered the Milwaukee's Magic Number to clinch their fourth-consecutive division title down to 16. Any combination of Brewers wins and Cubs losses that adds up to 16 will give the Brew Crew their fourth NL Central crown in as many years.

Last night's five-run victory was certainly not lacking in storylines. From uncharacteristically poor defense in the early part of the game to a baserunning blunder that killed a scoring threat in the fourth inning to Pat Murphy giving starting pitcher Robert Gasser a pep talk as he pulled him from the game, there were a number of noteworthy moments in last night's Brewers win. Let's take a closer look at three key storylines that emerged as the Brewers got back on track against the Cubs.

Christian Yelich's vintage homer gives Brewers the lead in key victory over Cubs

Milwaukee trailed by three runs in the top of the fifth inning, but, in true Brewers fashion, battled back with a series of base knocks. In the fifth frame, Luis Lara, Joey Ortiz, and Cooper Pratt hit back-to-back-to-back two-out singles to cut the Cubs' lead down to two. In the sixth inning, Brice Turang led off with a single, before William Contreras scorched a groundball to the right side that got away from Cubs' second baseman Matt Shaw and ended up as a double for the Brewers' backstop. A balk scored Turang from third base before Andrew Vaughn drove in Contreras with a double to right field.

Therefore, when Yelich stepped to the plate in the fifth inning with Vaughn on second base, a 3-3 tie displayed on the scoreboard at Wrigley Field. Facing former Cubs' closer Daniel Palencia, who was brought in for Vaughn's at-bat, Yelich fell behind 0-2. Palencia tried to sneak a slider past Yelich on the inner half, which is a pitch the Brewers' veteran DH has struggled with this season. However, Yelich, who has been seeing the ball much better as of late, turned on the pitch, sent it up into the jetsream, and over the ivy in right-center field.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Yeli's homer is the fact that it came on a slider that was off the inside part of the plate. Yelich hasn't found much success against right-handed sliders this year (he had just a .140 slugging percentage against said pitches entering the night), so for him to turn on the pitch and send it over the fence is incredibly encouraging.

When Yelich was at his best, during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he punished right-handed sliders, posting an incredible .594 slugging percentage against the pitch across those two campaigns. Thus, his home run last night was a true "vintage Yeli" homer, and offers another sign that the Brewers' veteran leader is turning things around at the plate.

Trade deadline acquisition JoJo Romero impresses in Brewers debut

The Brewers acquired left-handed reliever JoJo Romero back on August 3, but he didn't make his debut with Milwaukee until last night. Romero, who was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals, underwent an emergency appendectomy in mid-July and has been working back from the procedure ever since. The 29-year-old southpaw was officially added to the Brewers' pitching staff before last night's game, as a result of the September roster expansion, and a few short hours later he was pitching in a high-leverage situation.

Romero took over for fellow trade deadline acquisition Antonio Senzatela in the bottom of the sixth, with the Brewers sporting a two-run lead. He inherited a runner on first base, and quickly induced a weakly hit pop-up off the bat of Cubs' first baseman Michael Busch. Unfortunately, the pop-up landed in shallow left field after Jackson Chourio, Cooper Pratt, and Joey Ortiz collided in an attempt to catch it, giving the Chicago runners on second and third with one out, through no fault of Romero's.

Romero proceeded to induce three ground balls, which is what he does best. One scored the runner from third base on a fielder's choice, another nearly resulted in an incredible defensive play from Turang, but ended in an infield single, and the final one ended the inning with the Brewers maintaining the lead.

The stat line may not look especially impressive for Romero, but it was an encouraging outing for the southpaw nonetheless. He showed excellent command of his sinker, and his velocity was just as strong as it was before he landed on the IL. He mixed in just three offspeed pitches -- two changeups and a sweeper -- all of which displayed their usual shapes. Overall, Romero's performance provided reassurance that the former Cardinal hasn't miss a beat during his time away from the mound, and could be an impactful addition to the Brewers' bullpen down the stretch.

Cooper Pratt remains in game after collison with Jackson Chourio and Joey Ortiz, expected to be okay

The most worrisome play of last night's game was the aforementioned pop-up that Romero induced that resulted in Chourio, Pratt, and Ortiz colliding in left field. After the play, Pratt was clearly shaken up, and video replay showed that Chourio's knee went right into the rookie shortstop's forearm/wrist while attempting to make the play.

Pratt appeared to be in a great deal of pain and was visited by the Brewers' athletic trainers. However, the 22-year-old ultimately remained in the game, made several plays in the field over the final three innings, and scorched a 94 mph groundball to shortstop in the eighth inning. Pratt's staying in the game offered a sigh of relief, especially given the fact that the young infielder is just two weeks removed from a stint on the IL due to a hamstring strain.

In his postgame interview, as seen on Brewers.TV, manager Pat Murphy confirmed that Pratt is going to be okay, saying, "I’m sure he’s hurting, but he wanted to stay and made a play after [the collision]. He looked like he was fine, or I wouldn’t have kept him in there." It's encouraging news for the Brewers, who saw their infield depth tested to a breaking point in mid-August. Pratt could miss a game or two, but it appears there aren't any long-term concerns.

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