Dee Gordon hit his first home run of the season on Monday night in the first at-bat for a Miami Marlins player since the tragic death of Jose Fernandez over the weekend.

Gordon fought back tears as he rounded the bases. He broke down after passing home plate.

"It seemed like it took forever," Gordon said. "I was just trying to go back to my teammates as fast as possible, and I couldn't get there. I was just wondering why [Jose Fernandez] wasn't on the top of the steps cheering for me."

The left-handed Gordon came up with a plan to step to the plate and take a pitch right-handed while wearing a helmet in his size with Fernandez's No. 16 on it. Gordon then switched helmets and went to his usual left-handed stance, and his first swing was a monster shot to right field.

"Pure emotion -- there's no other way it could be scripted," Giancarlo Stanton said of Gordon's homer. "There's no other way that, unless you're in a movie rewriting everything that just happened tonight, I couldn't believe it. I just put my hands up and celebrated."