H20Dad

[Guest Malichi Waterman]

We had an interesting situation occur in a game yesterday evening, and I am curious as to the correct call. The result of the game is not in the balance or anything, I'm just trying to satisfy my itching brain.

With two outs and the bases loaded, a slow ground ball was hit to the first baseman. The batter beat out the play at first, but the runner on first froze instead of running. The first baseman eventually tagged both runners, and the umpire called out the runner who started at first. In the meantime, the runner on third base crossed the plate. My question is, does the run count?

Thanks for your help.

[pnewton]

Short answer is no.

 

The runner from first is "forced" to advance. Because he was put out before reaching the base he was forced to for the third out no runs score on the play. The fact that he was tagged as opposed to tagging second base is meaningless.

[H20Dad]

Thanks, pnewton. That's exactly what I thought. Unfortunately, as a dad in the stands my opinion was not solicited.  

[maven]

26 minutes ago, pnewton said:

The fact that he was tagged as opposed to tagging second base is meaningless.

Except to R1's coach, who was probably losing his mind screaming at the kid to run.

Ruling is correct: no runs score when the 3rd out is a force play.