When is a home run not a home run?
The Dodgers needed just three innings into the 2021 season to test the boundaries of the rule book. With one out and Justin Turner on first base in Thursday’s season opener at Coors Field in Denver, Cody Bellinger drove a 1-and-1 changeup from Rockies starter German Marquez to the opposite field.
Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia tracked the high fly ball back to the wall, jumped and got his glove on the ball as he reached over the fence. He didn’t hold it. The ball dropped over the fence as Tapia landed back on the warning track.
But Tapia reacted like he might have made the catch and the umpiring crew hesitated in signaling a home run. Turner had rounded second base but he turned and headed back to first base, passing Bellinger along the way.
By rule, Bellinger was out for passing a runner on the bases and his two-run home run became simply an RBI single and the second out of the inning.
“I don’t think there’s blame to be placed,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when asked after the game who was at fault – if anyone – for the mixup. “I think Cody was coming out of the box hard which he should and he’s kind of looking where the ball’s at, going hard. Justin had just passed second base, I think, and then when he thought he saw the ball hit Tapia’s glove he retreated and put his head down, trying to get back with to potentially be doubled up. Then at that point in time, they just kind of crossed there between first and second.”
As Turner passed Bellinger, Bellinger was gesturing toward third-base umpire Ben May, looking for a home run signal.
“From what I understand, he didn’t give the ‘out’ call,” said Roberts, who got an explanation from the umpires after the play was sorted out. “I think that he was still trying to see it. Once he did see the ball go over he gave the home run call. I think at that point in time though Justin had already retreated.
“It’s just one of those funky plays that I don’t think is going to happen again this year.”
BARNES INJURY
Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes came out of the game after a play at the plate in the seventh inning. Reliever Jimmy Nelson uncorked one of two run-scoring wild pitches in the inning and C.J. Cron slid into Barnes’ right hand.
“I think initially he was scared (that it was a significant injury to his) throwing hand,” Roberts said. “He got a handful of spikes in his hand. There were some cuts.
“I think it’s just kind of the fat part of the hand. So I think he’s fine.”
Roberts said he had planned to split the four-game series between Will Smith and Barnes with Barnes getting another start Saturday. The hand injury shouldn’t change that, he said.
COORS EFFECT
Trevor Bauer will be making his Dodgers debut on Friday night in one of the most daunting places possible for a pitcher – Coors Field. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner said he doesn’t expect to have any added butterflies in the moment.
“No, I don’t. It’s baseball,” Bauer said Thursday. “I’m going to go out there and have the same competitive attitude I always do. I don’t expect to have any butterflies.”
It will be only the second time Bauer has pitched at Coors Field. He made one start there for the Cleveland Indians in June 2017. Pitching on just two days’ rest (after not returning in the second inning after a rain delay in his previous outing), Bauer allowed four runs and five hits and five walks in 3-1/3 innings and took the loss.
But he didn’t see anything inherently problematic about pitching at altitude.
“I had a start in Kansas City that got cut short … so my routine was really off,” Bauer said. “The movement on the pitches, I didn’t really notice a whole lot of difference. To me, you just go out there and you get the guy out. If you’re missing, you make an adjustment. It’s baseball. Everybody has to deal with it.
“I don’t really put a whole lot of stock in the elevation or whatever else. It’s a baseball game. You go out there and compete and win the game.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Trevor Bauer, 5-4, 1.73 ERA in 2020) at Rockies (RHP Antonio Senzatela, 5-3, 3.44 ERA in 2020), Friday, 5:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM
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