Craig Yoho just did something he hasn't done in years in White Sox meltdown

The Milwaukee Brewers just completed their longest road trip of the season. The good news? It's over. The bad news? It included several devastating losses in games that the Brewers let slip from their grasp. Thursday afternoon's loss in the series finale against the Chicago White Sox was not one of those devastating losses, but it did include a rarity that the Brewers were not expecting from one of their exciting young pitchers.

Chad Patrick started Thursday's matchup and posted five strong innings of one-run baseball. However, while Patrick has generally been removed from the game after two times through the opposing lineup, the Brewers’ depleted bullpen needed a day off, so Patrick was sent back out for the sixth inning. After two quick outs, Patrick surrendered back-to-back singles to Edgar Quero and Andrew Vaughn before being pulled from the game.

Pat Murphy turned to rookie Craig Yoho, whose ability to strand runners with his high proclivity for strikeouts made him the obvious choice in the situation. However, Yoho simply didn't have his best stuff this afternoon. He gave up a three-run home run to the first batter he faced, Miguel Vargas, making it a 4-0 game. A surrendered home run by a rookie relief pitcher generally wouldn't be a noteworthy event, but Yoho hadn't allowed a home run in over a year.

Craig Yoho gives up first home run since 2023 in loss to White Sox

In 57.2 innings across three minor league levels last season, not one opposing hitter took Yoho deep. You have to go back to the three appearances that he made in the Arizona Complex League in 2023 to find the last instance of Yoho allowing a long ball.

Not only was the home run itself a shocking occurrence, but the fact that it came on one of Yoho's physics-defying changeups makes it even more notable. Yoho had allowed just one hit on his changeup through his first four appearances with the Brewers. That same changeup, which Yoho throws more than half of the time, generated a 51% whiff rate in the minor leagues last season, according to MLB Pipeline.

What's even crazier is that the pitch wasn't even a strike, as you can clearly see in the video above. Yoho actually made a good pitch, but known Brewers-killer Miguel Vargas, who must have been sitting changeup, still managed to send it over the left-field fence.

The allowed home run should not be viewed as a major setback for Yoho, especially given the nature of the pitch that it came on, but rather a small bump in the road to what is sure to be a very successful career. It does reveal that players will start sitting on his changeup if he continues to throw it at such a high clip, meaning he might need to start mixing in his fastball and curveball a bit more than he had to against minor league pitching. What's far more concerning for Yoho than one lucky swing from Vargas are the four walks that he issued the following inning, which led to four more runs by the White Sox and put the game out of reach for the Crew.

That being said, his first four outings with the Brewers were stellar, and one bad day should not derail his entire season. He still possesses one of the best changeups in all of baseball and an above-average slider to go along with it. Expect Yoho to bounce back and be his usual self the next time he toes the rubber.