Albert Almora Jr. thought he walked. He's glad he didn't.
Leading off the bottom of the third inning, the Cubs' center fielder worked Marlins starter Caleb Smith into a 3-1 count. Almora took Smith's next pitch, a fastball at the bottom of the zone, thinking it was ball four. He tossed his bat toward the dugout and started to remove his shin guard when home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson called it a strike.
No matter. Almora hopped back into the batter's box and promptly smashed the next pitch into the basket in center field to tie the score at 2 and give him his second homer of the season.
Almora's blast was the last run to cross the plate before Kris Bryant's three-run walk-off home run in the ninth inning of Chicago's 5-2 win. Almora scored on Bryant's blast and was able to trot home on that one as well.
Thinking you walked and then hitting a homer could become a new trend.