I was recently asked the following question:
With runners on first (R1) and third (R3) and two outs, the batter hits a ground ball to the 2nd baseman. Instead of touching the bag for force out he sees R1 stop and head back toward 1st base. The 2nd baseman chases and does not touch R1 until after runner on 3rd base crosses plate. Does the run count?
The short answer is “No.” But you don’t come here for short answers, do you?
The two applicable rules in the rulebook are:
4.09 – HOW A TEAM SCORES
(a) One run shall be scored each time a runner legally advances to and touches first, second, third and home base before three players are put out to end the inning.
EXCEPTIONS: A run is not scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made (1) by the batter-runner before touching first base; (2) by any runner being forced out; or (3) by a preceding runner who is declared out because that runner failed to touch one of the bases (appeal play).
and
2.00 A FORCE PLAY is a play in which a runner legally loses the right to occupy a base by reason of the batter becoming a runner.
Force outs are so commonly made by touching bases that it is easy to forget that this is not a requirement. The rulebook does not explicitly define the term “forced out,” however it is generally understood to mean any out on a runner who is forced to advance that occurs prior to that runner touching the base to which he/she is forced. This includes outs resulting by tags, appeals, head-first slides, interference, running out of the baseline – basically anything you can think of.
Just because a fielder can make a force out by touching a base does not mean that he/she must do so in order for the out to be considered a force out. Since the runner originally on first base was forced to advance and was put out (for the third out) before he/she touched second base, Exception 2 to 4.09(a) applies, and the run does not score, regardless of when R3 crosses the plate.
Now, if the situation had been different – if there were runners on 2nd and 3rd (R2 and R3) but no runner on first, and if the tag out was R2, then the run might count, because R2 was not forced to advance. The run would count if R3 crossed prior to the tag being made, or not if the tag was made before R3 crossed the plate. On a play like this, none of the exceptions apply, so the question boils down to whether the touch of home happened before or after the third out was recorded via the tag. Umpires refer to this as a “timing play” because, well, it all comes down to the timing.
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