
MILWAUKEE — Christian Yelich’s return to the starting lineup wasn’t enough to save the Milwaukee Brewers.
The outfielder sparked a late rally, but Josh Hader allowed a three-run home run to Marwin Gonzalez and the Brewers fell 7-5 to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night at Miller Park.
With Milwaukee trailing 4-1 in the seventh inning, Yelich hit an RBI double and scored on Yasmani Grandal’s three-run home run, his 20th of the season. That gave the Brewers a 5-4 lead.
But Gonzalez followed in the eighth with his blast, his 14th, to put the Twins ahead to stay.
It was the fifth blown save for Hader, an All-Star for the second consecutive year. The left-hander has allowed four home runs in his past six appearances.
“It’s a misplaced fastball and it’s cost him a lot,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “As good as Josh is he still has to locate his fastball and he’s getting hurt on mistakes.”
The pivotal eighth inning started with the Twins putting runners on first and second with no outs before Brewers reliever Drew Pomeranz (2-10) recorded the first out. He was replaced by Matt Albers, who struck out the only batter he faced, C.J. Cron.
But then Gonzalez hit Hader’s first pitch, a 96 mph fastball, over the wall.
Yelich had missed five starts due to back stiffness. The reigning NL MVP entered Tuesday leading the league in batting average and tied with the Angels’ Mike Trout for the major league lead in home runs with 39. He went 1-for-5.
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