MILWAUKEE -- Christian Yelich appears rather intent on holding onto that National League MVP Award for another year.

Yelich lined a 102 mph sinker from Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks for a walk-off, two-run double in the ninth inning and a 5-4 Brewers win at Miller Park on Sunday, eight innings after he matched a Major League record by homering in each of his team¡¯s first four games.

? Most consecutive games with a home run to start season

Those hits, bookending a trio of walks, gave Yelich a 2.250 OPS through the first four games of 2019, and a .373/.462/.806 slash line with 29 home runs and 75 RBIs in 69 regular season games since last year¡¯s All-Star break. That slugging percentage is more than 100 points better than the rest of MLB¡¯s field in that span who've had at least 100 at-bats.

¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone this good at baseball for this long,¡± said Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun. ¡°I mean, maybe [Barry] Bonds in his prime. As great as [Mike] Trout is. I¡¯ve seen [Albert] Pujols. ¡­

¡°I think everybody should take the time to appreciate it, because what we¡¯re witnessing is greatness.¡±

Yelich is picking up where he left off last season, when he rode a sensational second half to winning the NL MVP Award. He batted .442 with four home runs in 43 Spring Training at-bats before reaching base 12 times in 18 plate appearances during the opening series against the Cardinals. He collected six hits including a double and four home runs, plus six walks. One of those walks was an intentional pass from Michael Wacha with one out, first base open and the Brewers leading 1-0 in the third inning of Sunday¡¯s series finale. The winning hit, which followed Ben Gamel¡¯s double in an 0-2 count and Lorenzo Cain¡¯s infield single, gave Yelich eight RBIs through four games.

The Brewers caught a break when the baseball squirted away from diving Cardinals center fielder Harrison Bader, giving Cain time to sprint from first to home.

¡°It turned fast,¡± said Brewers manager Craig Counsell. ¡°The game turned fast.¡±

The steady constant was Yelich, who was described as a ¡°nuisance¡± to the Cardinals in a question for manager Mike Shildt.

¡°I¡¯d say nuisance is being kind,¡± Shildt replied. ¡°He had a really good series. A good player. We have to figure out a way to combat what he¡¯s doing because he¡¯s clearly more than a thorn in our side."

The comeback spared Brewers right-hander Corbin Burnes a loss in his first Major League start, after Burnes struck out 12 batters but yielded a trio of Cardinals home runs before departing in a 4-1 deficit after five innings.

Braun and third baseman Travis Shaw delivered successive run-scoring singles in the seventh inning, Shaw¡¯s on a routine pop-up that dropped over the head of Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter, who was positioned awkwardly because of an infield shift. It was still 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth when Gamel fought off a 99 mph sinker from Hicks to deposit a double into the right-field corner. The Brewers then caught another break when Cain¡¯s infield hit caromed off Hicks¡¯ glove.

That was a critical moment. Had Cain been retired, Shildt suggested the Cardinals would have probably intentionally walked Yelich, even though it would have meant putting the winning run on base.

That didn¡¯t surprise the Brewers.

¡°If Cain doesn¡¯t reach? One hundred percent,¡± said Shaw. ¡°If he keeps doing this, it might end up being intentionally walk him with nobody on. If he keeps this pace up, I mean, I played with Mookie [Betts], and this is more impressive than Mookie.

¡°And on the homer -- did you see where that pitch was?¡±

The homer came on Yelich¡¯s very first swing, against a 92 mph fastball from Wacha that was way above the strike zone. Statcast says the baseball was 3.88 feet off the ground, making it the highest pitch Yelich has hit for a homer since tracking started in 2015.

The Brewers and Cardinals tied a stadium record by combining to hit 18 home runs, and Braun called the distinction between splitting the opening series and winning three of four ¡°huge,¡± especially against a team that the defending NL Central champion Brewers see as serious contenders.

¡°Honestly,¡± said Shaw, ¡°going into the year I thought the Cardinals were the second-best team in the division, in my opinion. They played well. Their lineup is really good. Their lineup is a lot better than it was last year, and they still have all of those starters back. They¡¯re going to be there all year long.¡±

Said Yelich: ¡°It was definitely a cool series. It was a big series for us. They¡¯re a great team. They played us really well. Those games were tight. You had to execute to win them. Our division is such a good division. I¡¯ve got a feeling it¡¯s coming down to the last game or two, like it did last year.¡±