Pirates Batter Hits Home Run, Then Gets Called Out After Missing First Base

Have you ever been watching a football game -- college or the NFL -- and seen a player drop the ball before crossing the goal line? The move is incredibly frustrating because a) it's completely unnecessary and b) it costs that team points.

Well, we may have found the equivalent in baseball.

On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes hit a solo home run off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler. The impressive play down the right-field line was supposed to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead, but it was instead called an out.

Why? Because Hayes didn't touch first base. The Dodgers challenged the play and won after review.

Now, I should note that this isn't exactly like a football player dropping the ball before crossing the goal line. Hayes' error wasn't the result of excessive celebration. In fact, the reason he missed first base was because it was difficult to determine whether it was even a home run -- umpires took awhile to call it after the ball hit a foul pole.

But the point remains -- an unnecessary, careless miss from Hayes cost the Pirates a point.

In the end, I guess that one point didn't matter. The Dodgers won the game 5-3, so it wouldn't have made a difference, except that it may have set a different tone early in the game. But for a franchise that's currently 23-36 on the season, those are the kind of mistakes you want to avoid.

Remember, this is also the team that let this happen:

Absolutely brutal.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.