Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals

The three-run homer was nice. But it was Jake Bauers’ baserunning maneuver straight out of … somewhere, whether that’s The Matrix film franchise, or gym class dodgeball, or a running back’s highlight reel that Brewers fans may remember most about Wednesday’s 8-4 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Here’s the script: It was the second inning of a scoreless game. Bauers was on second base after a single and a wild pitch when he broke for third -- “Bad read,” he said -- on Andrew Vaughn’s comebacker to pitcher Andre Pallante. Bauers appeared dead to rights. Or at least that’s what Pallante, third baseman José Fermín and 27,028 Cardinals fans believed. Bauers, though, had a plot twist. As Fermín charged toward the bag and caught Pallante’s throw, he stumbled and fell. Bauers hit the brakes and briefly considered retreating toward second to get in a rundown that might give Vaughn a chance to get into scoring position. Then Bauers saw an opening. “I was like, ‘There it is. I’m going for it,’” he said. He planted both feet and dove headfirst. Umpire Jen Pawol was right there and delivered the call: Safe. “That’s what they’re good at. They put pressure on you every way,” Pallante said of the Brewers. Besides providing a highlight, Bauers’ acrobatics led to the first of two Brewers runs on back-to-back singles from Sal Frelick and Cooper Pratt. “I feel like I’ve been working on that for a while, playing pick-up football with my buddies when I was a kid,” Bauers said. “I always wanted it to come out on a baseball field, and I guess tonight was the night.” For the record, Bauers never actually played organized football. But he does know The Matrix and so does his mother, who texted her son a GIF of the Keanu Reeves character during the game.