The Harrisburg Senators visited the Hartford Yard Goats for some exciting midweek Eastern League baseball action and the two teams combined to create one of the stranger plays of the season at any level.
Harrisburg was enjoying a 1-0 lead in the third inning when a Hartford batter lofted an easy fly ball out to center field. Delino Deshields Jr., who is trying to get back to the bigs after playing parts of seven seasons in the show, easily reeled it in for the second out.
Then, oblivious to the Yard Goats runner tagging up from second, turned his attention toward whatever was going on behind the fence in left center.
His miscalculation allowed the heads-up runner to scamper home and probably resulted in some regret for Deshields.
There’s a million ways to score a run, but this usually isn’t one of them 🤷🏻 pic.twitter.com/VxEuUBWxjO
— Hartford Yard Goats (@GoYardGoats) August 14, 2025
Now, this type of thing happens from time to time. The outfield is a long way away from home plate and the mind wanders, making it harder to keep track of how many outs have been recorded. But this one is unique in that Deshields didn't seem to have that awful moment of comprehension that action was going on behind his back and just lobbed it toward third when he did turn around.
Thankfully for him, the Senators would get the last laugh by scoring two runs in the ninth inning to walk away with a 5-3 victory.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Familiar Name Involved in Bizarre, Confusing Minor League Play.
