Christian Yelich hurts oblique, likely to miss time

We didn’t know why Christian Yelich was replaced by Hernan Perez in the 7th inning of the Brewers’ loss against the Cardinals on Wednesday night, but now we do — it turns out Yelich was hurt.

Yelich told reporters after the game that his right oblique tightened up on him, and he left the 6-0 game as a precaution. The Brewers won’t know how bad the injury is until later Thursday morning, but he’s already been ruled out of the series opener against the Cubs.

The fact that Yelich left an inning after making what looked like an awkward-yet-impressive catch in foul territory down the left field line led a few people to guess if that’s what caused the oblique flare-up, but he says that’s not the case. He added that it wasn’t something that’s been bothering him, but didn’t say when he started to feel the discomfort. He did strike out in the bottom half of the inning after making the sliding catch.

Yelich leads the team in runs scored, crossing home 6 times in 6 games, and is hitting .385/.407/.577 in the second spot in the lineup.

Whether or not it’s an oblique injury that requires a stint on the disabled list or more like Zach Davies’ mild scare in Spring Training remains to be seen, but either way, it’s looking like a good thing the Brewers held on to their outfield depth.

Domingo Santana seems likely to become a regular in the lineup in Yelich’s absence. If Yelich lands on the DL — even if the injury is deemed minor, sitting him for 10 days might not be a bad idea to make sure it doesn’t get worse — it’s possible the Brewers decide to bring up a relief pitcher instead of Keon Broxton or Brett Phillips, considering their desire to eventually get to 8 relievers in the bullpen.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference