​Third time’s the charm: Seby Zavala launches his third homer of the game on July 31, 2021, capping off his historic performance. | Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images Some South Side Sox readers are aware that I am fond of catcher Seby Zavala. We have reached the five-year anniversary of Zavala’s three-homer game, so I feel the need to revisit that incredible feat, which was the most out-of-the-blue performance I have ever seen.It was July 31, 2021, and entering that day, the White Sox had a 61-43 record, a nine-game lead in the AL Central, and a +112 run differential. That run differential trailed only the Astros (+153), Dodgers (+147), and Giants (+115). The South Siders were the No. 3 seed in the AL, only behind Boston by 1 ½ games for second and behind Houston by three games for the top seed. With the AL Central title being quite likely to come to Chicago, the main item on my mind was passing Houston or Boston to get home field advantage in the ALDS. All things considered, though, when the White Sox hosted Cleveland (50-50), not much was at stake that evening.The previous day, I drove up from Indianapolis with my girlfriend Katherine, with whom I had recently celebrated our one-year anniversary. Katherine had never been to a White Sox game, and I was excited to introduce her to what was then known as Guaranteed Rate Field. When she asked about players to look out for, I mentioned Tim Anderson and José Abreu. Although Anderson and Abreu each picked up a hit, they did not provide the main storyline in Chicago that day.The game got off to a pretty unremarkable start. In the middle of the third, the White Sox had a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Brian Goodwin solo homer in the second. Zavala led off the bottom of the third, facing Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie. Zavala entered this game with a slash line of .143/.226/.214 in 33 MLB plate appearances that season, and had been slashing just .168/.263/.355 in Triple-A. At that point, Zavala’s only other big-league experience came in 2019, when he went 1-for-12 with a bloop single (65.1 mph exit velocity, 49-degree launch angle, .170 xBA), nine strikeouts, and no walks. In summary, there was no reason to believe that major league pitchers had to take Zavala seriously.After a swing and a miss on a 92 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate, the count was 2-2. Right before that 2-2 pitch, I was telling Katherine that Zavala was only in the majors because Chicago’s starting catcher (Yasmani Grandal) was injured, and his backup (Zack Collins) was well below-average defensively. While I was roasting Zavala’s batting ability, McKenzie threw another 92 mph fastball in a similar location, but this time, Zavala was ready for it. Zavala launched a fly ball to deep center, and to my amazement, center fielder Myles Straw was backing up quickly. Straw leaped, but his attempt to rob Zavala of his first career homer was unsuccessful! As I was clapping for the incredibly unlikely home run, I looked at Kath