LOS ANGELES -- Rockies first baseman TJ Rumfield showed up at Coors Field on Friday and learned that he had lost a home run off his stat sheet.
To explain:
Rumfield’s fly ball to right field during Tuesday’s 8-2 Rockies victory at Angel Stadium glanced off Jo Adell’s glove, then bounced off his head and over the wall. Initially ruled a home run, the play officially became a four-base error on Friday.
Rumfield, the National League Rookie of the Month for May, was credited with a solo homer off right-hander Grayson Rodriguez in the fourth inning, but the ruling was appealed by Rodriguez and overturned by MLB three days later. A player or team can request a scoring change within 72 hours of the game.
Rumfield is now 0-for-1 in that at-bat, and Rodriguez will have an earned run taken off his ledger.
It’s the second time a four-base error has involved Adell. It also happened in his rookie season in 2020, when a ball went off his glove and over the fence against the Rangers.
Rumfield sits at seven home runs instead of eight. He chuckled when reminded that, however many homers he finishes with this year or in his career, he can tell the story of one he had for a few days before it was removed.
“I guess it’s like everything else in this game that you can’t control – it’s just that they made a decision,” said Rumfield, who found out about the change before the Rockies’ 9-7, 10-inning loss to the Brewers at Coors Field on Friday night.
“I can’t appeal an appeal,” Rumfield said. "The baseball gods are watching. … I hope so.”
To his credit, Adell was immediately at his locker after Tuesday’s game to talk to reporters and took accountability for his misplay. And he also said on Friday that he agreed with the decision to overturn it to a four-base error.
“I think it should be [an error],” Adell said. “I don't really have a different reaction for it. I mean, it hit my glove before it hit my hat and then went over. I don’t think it should be a homer.”
Adell, though, has worked hard to become a better defensive outfielder since his debut, was a Gold Glove finalist in 2024, and memorably robbed three home runs in one game against the Mariners on April 4.