September 15, 2005
Designated Runner
Steve Bauman writes with a very unusual play from last night's Red Sox game:
I was surprised you didn't "muse" over the strange play in last night's Red Sox/Blue Jays game.
If you didn't see it, Tony Graffanino hit a home run with Gabe Kapler on at first. Kapler was running full-bore, as it was a line drive and not a sure thing, but as he hit second base, he did a full-blown face plant into the turf. It turned out that he'd ruptured his Achilles' tendon, and he couldn't continue around the bases. (Obviously. Ouch.)
So Graffanino stays at second, and they pinch-run for Kapler in mid-play with Alejandro Machado, who finishes rounding the bases (and gets his first-ever run scored) with Graffanino following. A mid-play substitution, who knew?
The rule apparently states you can do this if the player would have been awarded that base, or bases. Obviously, if Graffanino's ball hadn't gone out, they could have just tagged Kapler out.
Home runs are special cases. For example, if someone hits a game winning home run (out of the field of play) but can't round the bases due to fans mobbing the field, the run still counts. In looking at the play by play for the game, it looks like the substitution happens before the homer. There should be a note inserted there.
The minutia of baseball is part of the reason I love it.
I think that goes for all of us here.
Remember the Robin Ventura walk-off grand slam single from a numer of years ago?
How about if a hit batter is injured so much that he can't make it to first base? Does the pinch-runner just simply take first base, or does he have to do some sort of maneuver where he starts at home and goes to first along the basepaths, or what?
Adam: It's probably impossible for someone to be that injured and have hit a home run. If they hit a line drive and an outfielder fields it, that OF will just throw to first for the force.
Benjamin, I believe Adam was referring to getting hit by a pitch, not hitting a home run.
Adam, I'd think they'd just have the runner go to first base from the dugout. That's the base the hitter is entitled to; he could probably circle the bases in reverse and still follow the rules since I doubt running out of the base paths is possible in a "dead ball" situation.
In the case of the game last night, Kapler touched second, and the pinch runner basically needed to start at third, since that was the next base he was entitled to. I believe he actually started running where Kapler was, though, with Graffanino right behind him.
Another oddity about this. Machado now has a run scored in the majors, without ever having been on base (when a pitch was thrown).
