DENVER — The Brewers wasted no time getting on the scoreboard on Tuesday night, as Christian Yelich drove the fourth pitch of the game from Rockies starter Chad Kuhl a Statcast-projected 499 feet to the third deck at Coors Field in an eventual 10-7 loss in 10 innings.
It’s the longest dinger of the 2022 season so far. It’s also the third-longest tracked by Statcast (since 2015), surpassed by only Nomar Mazara (505 feet) and Giancarlo Stanton (504).
It was the second-longest home run of the Statcast era at Coors Field, behind Stanton’s 504-foot shot on Aug. 6, 2016, when he was with the Marlins. Ironically, when Stanton set that mark, Yelich was hitting in front of him in the order.
The blast was Yelich’s fourth career leadoff homer, and his second of the season. It is the longest home run of his career, far eclipsing his previous mark of 462 feet.
The towering long ball was Yelich’s 12th of the year and first since Aug. 28 against Chicago, and it elevated a rough road trip that saw him hitting .143 (1-for-7) entering the game.
The previous longest home run of the season was by the Marlins’ Jesús Sánchez, who went 496 feet also at Coors Field.
The Brewers plated two more with a Willy Adames walk and a Hunter Renfroe two-run shot that traveled 440 feet to center, staking the Crew to a 3-0 lead in the first frame.
The first-inning tally held up for seven innings of two-hit ball from starter Brandon Woodruff. The only blemish on Woodruff’s line was a third-inning solo shot to left from Rockies rookie Elehuris Montero.
But after Woodruff exited, the first four Colorado batters in the eighth doubled their team’s hit total, with a leadoff double from Montero, a run-scoring single from Alex Trejo, a single to right from Ryan McMahon and a three-run blast from Yonathan Daza in his first game back from the injured list to bring the Rockies within a run. Randal Grichuk tied the game, 6-6, with a two-out solo shot to left.
After a scoreless ninth, Yelich started the 10th frame as the runner on second and scored on a Adames double to left, but the Rockies tied it against reliever Taylor Rogers when Daza plated McMahon with his own double to left.
The Brewers intentionally walked CJ Cron, and recorded the first out of the inning on a fielder’s choice grounder to second from Charlie Blackmon, moving the winning run to third. The infield pulled in, but Grichuk went deep, launching a 457-foot, three-run homer into the left-field bleachers to hand Milwaukee a disappointing walk-off loss.
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