Cody Bellinger found himself at the wrong end of a bizarre play on MLB opening day. The Los Angeles Dodgers lost to Colorado Rockies 8-5 in their first match as defending champions. For the Dodgers, the play involved Bellinger and Justin Turner.
Once In A Lifetime For Cody Bellinger
The mistake was completely unintentional and honest. Cody Bellinger had struck the sweet spot in the match’s third inning and had apparently hit the ball out of the left-center of the park for two runs. However, the ball bounced off Ramiel Tapia’s glove in the outfield before going past the fence.
Justin Turner occupied first base when the hit came. He mistakenly believed that Tapia had caught the ball. So he traced his steps back when Cody Bellinger passed by him, confused. The umpires promptly called Cody out.
Dave Roberts, the manager of the Dodgers, came out from the dugout for a short time to talk about the call. The umpires allowed Turner to run to home base. On record, Cody Bellinger scored a single run and one RBI. However, there was no home run credited. The MVP of 2019 NL’s count of 123 home runs in his career remained unchanged. Chris Owings, the second basemen of the Rockies was credited a putout for being nearest to the occurrence.
Roberts later said in his interview that he thinks there is no space to blame. He explained that Cody was expectedly running his fastest when he left the box and was watching the ball. Turner, on the other hand, had just gone by second base before he saw Tapia’s glove touch the ball and so focused on going back. As such, neither of them really looked up before crossing.
In the history of MLB, such a play had happened in the famous match between Pittsburgh and Milwaukee Braves back on 26th May 1959. Joe Adcock had hit the run with Hank Aaron thinking the ball had not gone past the boundary fence.
