'It's nice to be back': Christian Yelich returns after a 20-game absence

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On the heels of their uplifting 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night, the Milwaukee Brewers welcomed a key cog back to their lineup.

Christian Yelich, who'd missed the previous 20 games while dealing with his balky back, got the start at designated hitter Wednesday afternoon in the teams' interleague series finale at Kauffman Stadium.

"It’s nice to be back out there," Yelich said Wednesday morning. "Felt like a really long time."

Back problems have long plagued Yelich and this time the comeback trail was especially arduous. He initially injured himself while running the bases on April 12 in Baltimore.

Yelich had been successfully ramping up his on-field work leading into the Royals series and the decision was made to green-light his return Wednesday rather than waiting until the Brewers opened a four-game set Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals at American Family Field.

"It was kind of fluid," Yelich said. "I did all my stuff yesterday, the day before and the days leading up to it and I felt pretty good afterwards and was fine after I was done doing stuff. We just talked and felt comfortable about doing it today as opposed to waiting until tomorrow.

"I didn’t really see a huge difference in waiting, especially if I was going to DH today."

More starts at DH are likely to be forthcoming for Yelich, who will be eased back into playing left field.

"It’s almost been a month since playing," he said. "Just want to make sure we’re ramping up correctly."

Yelich was showing his previous National League MVP form prior to being injured, hitting .333 with five home runs and 11 runs batted in to go along with an OPS of 1.166.

In his absence the Brewers have done a respectable job offensively, although the bats had been on something of a dry spell prior to Tuesday. A two-out, three-run homer by Willy Adames in the ninth inning capped a 13-hit performance and what was easily Milwaukee's most inspiring win of the season to date.

"Guys have done a great job," said Yelich. "We’ve had a lot of different kinds of injuries. It’s part of a season but some years you’re hit a little bit harder and I’m really proud of the guys for playing well and holding it down. They did a great job.

"It seems like it’s been a different guy every day, which is cool. It’s just nice to be back out there and be able to contribute instead of just having to sit on the sidelines and watch."

Rookie Tyler Black was optioned to Class AAA Nashville in a corresponding roster move, ending the prospect's initial stint in the major leagues.

More: Former Brewers prospect (and part of the Christian Yelich trade) commits to Arkansas football at age 28

William Contreras empathizes with his brother

An unfortunate situation unfolded Tuesday night in St. Louis, when catcher Willson Contreras – brother of Brewers catcher William Contreras – suffered a broken left forearm on a swing by JD Martinez of the New York Mets.

He will undergo surgery and is expected to need six weeks to recover.

"It's hard for me, hard for the family. Hard for him because he loves to play," William said Wednesday morning. "But that happens in baseball."

That it was on a swing by Martinez wasn't lost on William, who was twice hit by Martinez last season when Martinez was playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fortunately, he was able to avoid injury and was called for catcher's interference in both instances.

"That happened last year at Dodger Stadium. Same guy hit me two times in the same game," he said. "I'm sorry for my brother."

It had been reported that the Cardinals had recently requested Willson begin setting up closer to the plate in an attempt to improve his pitch framing, especially on pitches down in the strike zone.

But there's an inherent risk in doing so – something that all parties learned the hard way.

"We need to get close to the batter, but we also need to know who's got the long swings, too," William said. "It's not everybody. We have to know before the series who's got the long swings on the team."

The Contreras brothers were set to square off again this weekend in Milwaukee.

"That's especially hard. I love my brother," William said. "But he'll be back."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers' Christian Yelich returns after 20 games out with back injury