Brewers Notebook: Yelich and Turang Homer in Loss, Drohan Takeaways

It’s been mostly smiles for the Milwaukee Brewers and their faithful on their recent homestand. Outside of an uncharacteristically sloppy game against the Mets on Tuesday, it’s been all wins as the team has gone 5-1 in the last six games at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

After an off day on Thursday, they returned to the field on Friday to close things out at home with a three-game set against the Rockies. Though they have the worst record in the NL, Colorado certainly didn’t play like it.

The Rockies struck first on back-to-back doubles by Kyle Karros and Cole Carrigg plus a single by Hunter Goodman that made it 2-0 four batters into the game. Christian Yelich hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first to cut the lead in half.

Colorado would continue to add to their lead by playing the Brewers’ game. A Jake McCarthy triple and a Karros single added another run in the third. Willi Castro would hit a single, steal, and later score on a sac fly in the fourth. And Mickey Moniak would walk and score on a double in the seventh.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee was the team playing long ball. Brice Turang would add a solo shot of his own in the sixth, but the Brewers wouldn’t be able to string together enough hits to score any other way, and the Rockies would end the day with a 5-2 road victory to open the series.

Christian Yelich Starting To Turn Things Back Around

After a strong start to the 2026 season, Brewers outfielder and former NL MVP Christian Yelich slumped hard for over a month going into the All-Star break. Perhaps that break is exactly what he needed.

Yelich’s home run was just his second in the month of July and his seventh on the season. But on a brighter note, the solo shot also marked his sixth extra-base hit in the last seven games (four doubles, one triple, one home run).

In the last week before the All-Star break, Yelich had finally started to string together some consecutive games with a hit. He’s done that coming out of the break as well and now has a hit in 10 of his last 12 games. He also stretched his on-base streak to 10 games on Friday.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy seemed happy with what he’s been seeing from his clubhouse leader lately. “The good thing is, Yeli is swinging the bat good, and he feels good about it,” Murphy stated after the game.

Yelich may have finished the game 1-for-5, but even his outs were loud. Three of his outs were hit at 92 mph or higher, and his third-inning fly out, hit at 102.4 mph with a 32-degree launch angle, would’ve been a homer in nine other ballparks according to Baseball Savant.

Brice Turang Stays Hot in July

In Friday’s game, the Brewers and Rockies finished the day with nine hits apiece. One man was responsible for exactly a third of Milwaukee’s hits: second baseman Brice Turang.

Turang started his day with singles in each of his first two at-bats, the first of which being 109.0 mph off the bat. In his third at bat, he crushed a 1-0 fastball 434 feet to right-center field for the Brewers’ second and final run of the day.

The home run was Turang’s 15th on the season, putting him just three behind his career high of 18 that he set just last season. It also continued an impressive offensive month of July that ranks among the best on the team.

Turang’s homer was his third of the month, tying him with Joey Ortiz and Jake Bauers for the team lead in July, while his 14th RBI extended his solo team lead in that category. He now has a .887 OPS after Friday’s game, placing him third for the month behind Ortiz and team leader Garrett Mitchell.

The former Platinum Glove winner was regarded as one of the best second basemen in the league coming into this season and started 2026 backing up that claim. However, a cold month of May was partially responsible for being snubbed from the first All-Star Game appearance of his career.

A solid June started to get him back on track while July now has him looking like classic Brice Turang once again. It’s part of why the Brewers are one win away from being guaranteed their third winning month in a row.

Shane Drohan Struggles but Still Has Manager’s Confidence

Brewers rookie starting pitcher Shane Drohan posted some of his worst numbers of the season on Friday. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t still positives to take from the outing.

Drohan gave up five earned runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts on Friday. It was the most earned runs that Drohan had given up in his short, 21-game career so far and only the second time he’d given up more than three earned runs in an outing.

His problem was setting the tone early. Drohan’s first pitch strike rate was 64%, slightly down from his 68.1% rate on the season, and he went on to stay behind early in the count throughout his outing. This allowed the Rockies to wait and hit him hard, averaging 91.2 mph exit velocity that was above Drohan’s 87.9 mph average on the season.

“He wasn’t ahead in the count,” Murphy said after the game. “He caused problems for himself. Other than that, I think he’s frustrated. I don’t think he feels great about his performance.”

Problems were caused for him as well, though. Karros’s double in the first could’ve been caught by right fielder Luis Lara, but he hesitated with other teammates converging and the ball ended up dropping fair. Drohan acknowledged the play affected him.

“It was tough, I felt like I probably could’ve handled myself better there,” Drohan said. “It feels like the last month, I’ve had each outing like a couple balls like that where it somehow is placed perfectly, so I feel like it got to me a little bit.”

“I feel like I usually handle it well. Just today it was kind of like that build up of the last month and a half of seeing this fall,” Drohan continued. “I feel like I bounced back pretty well, you just gotta move on and focus on the next guy.”

On the bright side, Drohan still managed to pitch at least six innings for his fourth consecutive outing. Overall, Murphy wasn’t as disappointed with his starter’s performance and pointed out the lack of support.

“[Drohan] didn’t pitch poorly,” Murphy said, “But we’ve got to do more as a team. We’ve got to do more…I’ve said this to you guys a million times. We’re an inch from the top and an inch from the bottom, and we’ve got to understand that when we come to play.”