A Brewer named Eric hit a second-deck homer -- Eric Sogard, dramatically announcing his return
By
Adrian Garro
Infielder Eric Sogard isn't exactly known for hitting homers -- through his first six seasons, he only totaled eight in regular duty for the A's. In fact, prior to Friday's Mets-Brewers game at Miller Park, Sogard hadn't even appeared in a Major League game since 2015, after a knee injury derailed his entire '16 campaign. If you're familiar with how baseball always finds ways to catch us off guard, this next part might not surprise you. On Friday, the Brewers put Ryan Braunon the disabled list, calling Sogard up from Triple-A to fill his spot on the roster. Guess who wound up hitting the go-ahead homer in Milwaukee's 7-4 win over the Mets? Yep, Sogard -- the guy who didn't really hit many ever before. Oh, it was a second-deck blast off Matt Harvey, too, and Sogard busted out an emphatic bat flip/toss that basically looked like a "thank-you!" to his bat for getting the job done:
That has to be one of the more dramatic ways to announce your return to the league. It wasn't enough that Sogard is another guy named Eric crushing moonshots for the Brewers (after the amazing start to the season from Eric Thames in his return to MLB after a few seasons in Korea). No, hitting home runs is something all the Brewers do, apparently. So what do you suppose Orlando Arcia did in the next at-bat? Yep, he went deep. As did Jett Bandyin the following inning. And it was all started by Sogard. Not a bad night.