Major League Baseball’s opening day has already brought us one of the most confusing moments that could transpire all year long.
The moment occurred during a play in the third inning of the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers game. It was the top of the third inning, Justin Turner was on first base, and Cody Bellinger was at-bat. Bellinger hit the ball that drove to left-center field, and the Rockies’ left fielder Raimel Tapia leaped up to catch the ball, but it appeared to go over the fence for a home run.
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It looked to be a normal two-run home run, but it confused all the players. Turner believed that the ball was caught for an out, so he ran back to first base. As Turner ran back to first base he passed Bellinger, who gestured to him to run back. As a result of the confusion, Bellinger was now ahead of Turner, and Bellinger was ruled out.
The reason that Bellinger was called out goes back to rule 5.09(b)(9). The rule states that a base runner is out if he passes the lead runner. In this case, Turner was the lead runner since he was already on first base when Bellinger was at bat. After Bellinger made contact, he became the trailing runner. As soon as he passed Turner on the base paths, the rule states that would automatically be called out.
The umpires spent some time discussing the confusing play but eventually made the right call.
As a result, Bellinger was ruled out at the first base. While it might have been disappointing that he was not credited with a home run, he still produced an RBI single. The Rockies went on to defeat the Dodgers 8-5 in the first game of the season.
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