R3 & R1, 2 out, R1 stealing on the pitch. On the hit R3 scores, R1 is extending to 3rd but couldn’t avoid the tag for the third out, BR hasn’t reached 1st, and on instinct the fielder throws and beats the BR to first for what is now the fourth out.
That scenario was put to me, I’m not sure if it’s a hypothetical play but it interested me and I gave the following reply
Given the BR hadn’t reached 1st, the force was still on and the BR became the fourth out. Being a force play, the fourth out would take precedence over the previous tag play and so the BR becomes the third out and because of this R3’s run is nullified.
To date I haven’t been told if my response is right or wrong so I’ll open it up to Baseball Rules Academy forum members
First, a runner out at first is not technically a force out.
Second, my first reaction would be to nullify the run, but the fourth out is defined only for appeal plays, that is, if there are 3 outs already and the defense wants to appeal a runner who was not put out, they can and the umpire would recognize this 4th out. The out at first is not an appeal play. Think of this way: The batter runner is running to first and the 3rd out is recorded so he heads back to the dugout — you can’t now get him out since the play was over. You can do this for an appeal, because on an appeal the runner has done something wrong which you are now challenging.
The force out happens when a defensive player puts out a runner by touching the base before the runner does. The runner gets called out without being actually “tagged” out.
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