From right off the bat until the ball landed safely over the Coors Field wall, it appeared Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger had his first home run of the season on Opening Day at Coos Field. Instead, he headed back to the dugout, having been ruled out, with an RBI single.
The reason? Well, running the bases even after the ball passes over the wall might be a formality, but there's still order to be maintained. Bellinger passed Justin Turner, who started the play on first base, which is a rules violation.
Turner appeared to believe that Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia caught the ball and went to retreat to his previous base. Meantime, Bellinger was in home run trot mode and "passed" Turner on the bases. As per the rules, that means Belllinger was out. Turner still ended up scoring on the play.
Here's the footage:
Cody Bellinger hit a home run with Justin Turner on base, but Turner thought it was caught for an out and ran back to first base.
— ESPN (@espn) April 1, 2021
Bellinger passed Turner on the bases and was ruled out.
The home run counted for one run instead of two. pic.twitter.com/ErecD0td3d
So that's a kick in the teeth for those with Bellinger on their fantasy team in addition to the real-world consequence of Bellinger being cost a home run and his team being cost a run.
In watching it back, it's tough to blame Bellinger. He appeared to slow down and possibly even come to a stop while trying to get Turner's attention. Turner just kind of had blinders on, thinking the ball was caught and trying to make sure he wasn't doubled off first.
Perhaps fittingly, the Rockies would score two runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead when it really should have been 2-2, at worst, from the Dodgers' perspective.
