We'll say it: Christian Yelich is back to playing like one of the best players in baseball.
After four back-and-forth games that went down to the wire between division rivals, Craig Counsell could finally breathe late afternoon on Thursday.
"Great series for the fans," said the Milwaukee Brewers manager following the latest of those wild endeavors, a 6-5 win by his team to split the series at American Family Field.
Fun for the skipper, too?
"Well I mean, the run differential was one run in four games," Counsell replied.
That was enough said right there.
To cap one of the most entertaining series in recent memory, here are three takeaways from the finale.
Christian Yelich and Cody Bellinger turn back the clock
You would have been excused if you thought it was 2019 all over again this week at American Family Field.
Not only were the Brewers and Cubs engaging in thrilling, close games as they were when both were competing for the division title four years ago, but the two best players in the series were arguably the two best players in baseball that season.
Brewers leftfielder Christian Yelich went 8 for 17 with a homer, triple, five runs scored and two walks.
Cubs centerfielder Cody Bellinger, after a 4 for 4 day in the finale, went 9 for 16 with a homer, double, six runs and five batted in.
“A few people told me that today,” Yelich said of the 2019 comparisons. “I’m happy for him. It’s good to see him doing well. He’s a great player. There’s ups and downs of seasons. It’s how it goes. He’s putting together a really good year and I hope he continues – just not against us.”
The Brewers will be happy to see Bellinger leave town, but as far as they’re concerned, the bigger development is the continued resurgence of Yelich.
His three-run home run in the fifth inning not only turned the tide of the game by giving the Brewers a 4-1 lead, but it was one of the most challenging things to do as a hitter: take Marcus Stroman deep.
The Cubs sinkerballer entered with a 2.76 ERA on the season and had allowed all of five homers before Yelich drove a fastball down in the zone out to left.
“Big credit to Christian, that’s a huge swing on a very, very good pitcher,” Counsell said. "He was really locked in and is tough to hit homers off of. That’s just a big-time player hitting great pitching.”
Don’t overlook the verbiage from the Brewers skipper there, either.
Big-time player.
After a few seasons of hoping Yelich could regain the form that makes him exactly that type of ball player, Milwaukee has gotten just that out of him in 2023.
Yelich finished the day with an .840 OPS, the highest it’s been at any point after the team’s 30th game of the season since 2019.
Once the day's games are completed, Yelich will likely be in the top 15 in all of baseball in Wins Above Replacement on Fangraphs and in the top seven in the National League.
Since June 6, Yelich is batting .362 with 10 doubles, two triples, four homers and 17 walks while also providing solid defense and excellent base running. He entered the day with a .916 OPS since May 1, a number that only went up after another strong performance.
The underlying metrics back up Yelich’s performance, too; since June 1, he’s eighth in baseball in average exit velocity, minimum 75 batted balls. Since May 1, he’s 14th.
Freddy Peralta was throwing flames, but still gave up some damage
Fastball Freddy was Fireball Freddy on Thursday, but as has been the case, it was still a smattering of loud contact that was his demise.
Peralta struck out 10 and recorded a career high with 28 swings and misses, pumping in some of the firmest fastballs he’s ever thrown and churning his slider into a whiff machine.
“If it wasn’t the best (of the season), probably the second best,” Peralta said of his pure stuff. “But I was feeling great today.”
His average fastball was 95.9 mph, the fastest of any start in his career, and a 98.7 heater to strike out Seiya Suzuki swinging in the third was the fastest pitch he’s ever thrown in a start and third-fastest overall.
“That’s 99,” Peralta exclaimed after the game.
Yet at the end of the day the final line wasn’t anything special: 5 ⅓ innings, 3 runs.
This has been an ongoing trend for Peralta. From a pure stuff standpoint, most of his starts have been excellent for an extended period of time this year. But each time out, the results don’t match that.
Thursday’s start was the ninth straight in which Peralta has given up two or more runs but no more than four. A few bad pitches have typically been his demise, and that was the case once again against the Cubs despite having overpowering velocity and movement.
“There’s no question about it, the home run ball has got him and unfortunately it’s been with men on base,” Counsell said. “That’s what’s created all of this. But today, the ease of operation and how the ball was coming out of his hand is very encouraging.
“We just have to keep building on it and know that there’s a lot of good happening. We can be disappointed by the line but there’s a lot of good in there. I think he’s going into the second half of the season feeling good. Just a couple pitches here and there and we get some very, very good results.”
Christopher Morel and Bellinger tagged him for consecutive doubles to open the second inning, though Peralta was able to wiggle out of it from there with a pair of strikeouts.
Peralta stranded three more runners in scoring position over the next three innings and went back out for the sixth with a pitch count in the 90s. He walked Suzuki and struck out Morel looking to push his pitch count over 100.
Perhaps the move could have been made to pull Peralta from the game with Bellinger, who was 2 for 2 against him to that point, but Counsell rolled the dice, Peralta hung a changeup and it went 392 feet to right-center for a two-run homer.
Bryse Wilson was up and ready in the bullpen and Hoby Milner was another option, though he had thrown in eight games in the past 13 days.
“I can pitch Hoby there and then we’re not going to have him for sure tomorrow and for sure for couple of days,” Counsell said. “So You take a shot. I thought that wasn’t really a tough decision. It was Freddy’s inning at that point.
It was the 11th long ball given up by Peralta in his last nine starts. The underlying pieces are there for Peralta to have a great second half; the rest will come down to consistent execution within the zone.
“A lot of little things I can be better with,” Peralta said about looking forward to the second half. “This game is about adjustments and I think I can be better for the second half. I ask God for the important things, to stay healthy to try to help the team win games the most that I can.
“A lot of little things that I have to make adjustments with for the second half, but it’s part of the process.”
Matt Arnold's trade for William Contreras is the gift that keeps on giving
Nationally, it was dubbed as the Sean Murphy trade. Locally, it was the William Contreras trade.
But maybe all along it was actually the Joel Payamps trade?
That, of course, is severely understating the impact both Murphy and Contreras have had on their respective teams – Murphy leads all catchers in Wins Above Replacement and Contreras, arguably an all-star snub, is fourth.
But considering how little fanfare the addition of Payamps in the trade for Milwaukee got, it’s remarkable how important he has been for the Brewers bullpen.
With a scoreless ninth inning Thursday, Payamps protected a one-run lead to pick up his third save of the season. He also leads the Brewers with 15 holds and dipped his ERA below 2.00.
You would be hard-pressed to find a more impactful non-closing reliever in the NL this year.
“He’s having a great year,” Counsell said. “Really, he’s having an all-star caliber year the way he’s throwing the ball, no question about it. Proud of him. Happy for him. And we’ll try to keep him in that spot and keep him as fresh as we can. He’s been a really important part.”
The trade continues to be a steal for the Brewers.
Contreras has been the team’s second-best hitter all year behind Yelich and has turned into a good defender behind the plate. Payamps is eight among NL relievers in ERA and fifth in holds.
Esteury Ruiz, meanwhile, leads MLB in stolen bases but has a negative WAR according to Baseball Reference due to minue-16 defensive runs saved in the outfield and minimal impact on offense.
The Brewers desperately needed someone in the bullpen to seize the reins in a setup role to Devin Williams, and Payamps has delivered.
“He’s stepped up big for us this year,” Yelich said. “We knew coming into the season we were going to need guys to do that. It was a pretty different group out there than we’ve had in years past really besides Devin and maybe Hoby. We knew we were going need some high leverage guys to step up and separate themselves.
“He’s done a great job and pitched some huge innings for us.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Christian Yelich playing like one of MLB's best once again
