Milwaukee Brewers captain and 2018 National League MVP Christian Yelich wasn’t in the starting lineup for Sunday night’s Game 1 of the NL Championship Series against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy opted for right-handed-hitting Andrew Vaughn as the designated hitter with the Dodgers starting left-hander Tarik Skubal. The left-handed-hitting Yelich is 0-for-2 with one strikeout against Skubal.
“It’s about our team and what’s best for our team today — and it might not be the whole game,” Murphy said in his pregame press conference. “But you kind of look at matchups and history and how a guy pitches a guy, potentially. And the guy playing instead of Yelich, at least for the first part of the game, he’s pretty good and he has pretty good history against (Skubal).”
Vaughn is 5-for-22 with one RBI against Skubal in his career. Also, Vaughn excelled against left-handers this season with two homers and a .336/.421/.517 slash line in 116 at-bats.
Yelich, a three-time All-Star, batted just .212 and slugged .331 in 118 at-bats against left-handers this season. He hit two homers.
Yelich batted .235 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs in 118 games overall.
Milwaukee had three left-handed hitters in the lineup against Skubal — second baseman Brice Turang, first baseman Jake Bauers and center fielder Garrett Mitchell.
Yelich, 34, stood out in the NL Division Series when the Brewers beat the San Diego Padres in four games. He batted .357 (5-for-14) with one RBI and two stolen bases.
Yelich’s run-scoring single in Game 3 against the Padres ended a 19-game postseason streak without an RBI dating to Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS against the Dodgers.
Vaughn, 28, went 1-for-2 in the NLDS. In the regular season, he batted .306 with six homers and 43 RBIs in 104 games.
Ace right-hander Jacob Misiorowski is Milwaukee’s starting pitcher.
