Christian Yelich's return to the Milwaukee Brewers' lineup turned out to be short-lived.

The All-Star left fielder and former National League Most Valuable Player returned from a two-week stint on the injured list for a nagging back injury Monday night when the Brewers opened a four-game series in Philadelphia.

He picked up a pair of singles in Milwaukee's 4-3 loss to the Phillies that night but landed back on the IL a day later with what the team described as a lower-back strain.

"I wasn't where I needed to be," Yelich said. "I was able to make it through the game. But being able to stack (games) on top of each other just wasn't there. Pretty much why we're back to being where we are."

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said that, despite his ability to perform Monday night, Yelich "gutted out the game" which wouldn't be possible on a daily basis until the issue is completely resolved.

“Nothing happened last night that necessarily made it worse, but last night told us that he's not going to be able to do this on a daily basis," Counsell said. "So we need to stop and completely resolve this before we start again. ...

“I think Christian would like to know what’s going on. That’s the frustrating part for everyone involved and particularly for him. At this point, we don't have an answer."

Yelich has battled through occasional back problems since coming to Milwaukee in a blockbuster trade with the Marlins in January 2018, missing time in each of his first two seasons but neither instance was serious enough to necessitate a stint on the IL.

Yelich and Brewers manager Craig Counsell were expecting a similar situation when he was pulled from Milwaukee's April 11 game at St. Louis with back tightness. He sat out the ensuing three-game series against the Cubs but after the time off didn't help, the team decided to put him on the IL and get an MRI to try and get more information.

The scan revealed no structural damage and the team took a cautious approach in bringing Yelich back to game shape before finally activating him Monday morning.

Normally, Yelich would have gone on a rehab assignment to test his back before returning to regular action. That, though, was not an option since the minor league season didn't start until Tuesday night. Instead, Yelich gave it a shot.

“I felt we had to try it and just see where we were at," Yelich said. "It's hard to gauge. Obviously I felt good enough to try it, but you never really know until you go in the game."

Yelich's return to the IL is the latest blow for a team that's been plagued by injuries the last few weeks. Starting with Kolten Wong's strained oblique on April 10, Milwaukee has sent 11 different players to the IL and 19 players since the start of spring training.

Beyond the immediate impact of losing one of their most important players, the Brewers also have reason for long-term concern since Yelich is in the second year of a $188.5 million contract extension signed just before the pandemic shut baseball down last season.

Though Yelich has proven more than capable of living up to such a deal, it's nonetheless a risky move for a franchise that, while competitive, doesn't have the same ability to generate revenue like larger-market teams and even more so if the player has an injury that could limit his availability and production over the course of that contract.

For now, based on conversations with his doctors, Yelich doesn't think this will be a long-term issue but the current situation has left him understandably frustrated.

“I want to be out there," Yelich said. "I want to play baseball. You want to participate, you want to be with the team, you want to help contribute, especially with what we've got going on this year. We've got a shot to be pretty good, so you want to be a part of that and contribute, and to not be able to do that and just being on the IL, it always sucks, but even more so when it's an extended period of time.”