Only the Braves Could Turn a Three-Run Home Run Into a Two-Run Single

No matter how long you've been watching baseball, if you keep watching enough, you're bound to see something you've never seen before. And what everyone saw in the Braves-Diamondbacks game Wednesday night was certainly new to most.

With the Braves already up 1-0 in the first inning, Adam Duvall hit a ball over the fence with two runners on base which should have been a three-run homer to give Atlanta a 4-0 lead. The only problem was that Duvall and Austin Riley, who was on first base, weren't sure if the ball was caught or not. So Riley goes scrambling back towards first, passing Duvall. Because Duvall technically passed a baserunner — even though the ball was not in play — what would have been Duvall's 38th home run of the season became a two-run single.

Luckily, the Braves cruised to a 9-2 win. I could just see that blunder leading to a one-run loss in the middle of a pennant race, but thankfully the offense kept rolling along and Atlanta scored a handful more than it ended up needing.

With the National League lead in RBI at 109 and just three home runs behind Fernando Tatis Jr. for the NL lead, this would-be home run might have been a much bigger deal if Duvall was chasing the Triple Crown. But he's hitting .231. That's modern baseball for you, I suppose.