Christian Yelich came to the plate in the fifth inning with his team trailing by a run. He’d been off to a slow start this season but had begun to find his swing again. After watching the first pitch miss the zone, he got a look at one he liked but didn’t connect. When a similar pitch came on a one-two count, he was ready. He lifted it out to left field for what looked like a routine fly ball. White Sox left fielder Eloy Jiménez misread it completely, taking a bad route and losing track of the play. He drifted back, then in, and finally coasted over to what should have been an easy catch — except he dropped and tumbled awkwardly. The ball landed fair and rolled away.
Yelich, thinking it was an out at first, saw the misplay and flipped into high gear. He blazed past second while Jiménez took his time recovering. By the time the throw came in from the outfield, it wasn’t even close. Yelich slid home easily, tying the game with his second homer of the year — an inside-the-park shot. The Brewers’ bench was fired up. Craig Counsell looked pumped. Even Yelich seemed surprised, smiling and shaking his head. That wild sequence not only tied the game but gave Yelich a shot of momentum in a season where he’d started slow. Jiménez’s throw missed the mark badly, sealing an embarrassing defensive moment and a highlight for Yelich.