Cody Bellinger Hits Home Run That is Ruled as a Single, Scores Run, is Called Out

The Los Angeles Dodgers kicked off their title defense today against the Colorado Rockies. Everything was normal until Cody Bellinger (who spoke to The Big Lead ahead of Opening Day) mashed a home run. Which is also rather normal.

Then things started to happen. Bellinger's home run squeezed just over the fence after going in and out of Rockies outfielder Raimel Tapia's glove. Justin Turner, who was on first base, thought Tapia had caught it. He scampered back to first base, passing Bellinger in the process.

Then everyone stood around confused when Tapia did not, in fact, have the ball. After much discussion, the umpires ruled the following:

Bellinger did hit a home run.

Bellinger is out at first because he was passed by Turner on the basepaths.

Because it was a home run, Turner scored and the Dodgers get one on the board.

But because Bellinger was passed by Turner, his home run is actually a single.

So if you go into the ESPN box score for this, it simply says Bellinger singles to left, Turner scores, Bellinger out at first. Which doesn't even begin to cover what happened, but the box score guys can only do so much.

Somehow, this topped Miguel Cabrera's slide into second after being unable to see if he hit a home run because of a literal blizzard as the most bizarre occurrence of Opening Day and they will probably hold the top two spots for weirdest home runs all year. But we can all say we watched it happen and, despite what the box score implies, Bellinger was not thrown out at first from left field like Sean Casey.

Baseball is back!