A few minutes ago in the 8th inning of Game 7, a St. Louis runner on first stole second on a pitch that was not hit. The catcher threw to second and easily beat the runner. The second baseman tagged him before he reached second, appearing to make a clear and easy out.
But the runner was called safe, making two men on base, and the commentators and crowd didn’t make any fuss about it. The commentators said something about the catcher not wanting to wait for a strike call and so he threw anyway, but I didn’t get what that was about.
Just a casual baseball fan here, so obviously I’m missing some rule that made the runner safe. I thought the runner could always be tagged out if he tried to steal.
The pitch was ruled a ball, and was ball 4, meaning the batter takes first and the runner stealing second takes second. He can’t be tagged out because of the walk.
The announcers were discussing that if the umpire had quickly called it a ball, the catcher wouldn’t have thrown the ball.
ETA: the announcer’s point may have been that the catcher couldn’t assume it was a ball. Even if he thought it was a ball, he had to assume it was a strike if the call wasn’t made quickly enough.
Berkman wasn’t stealing second because he wanted to. He was doing it solely because the count was 3-2 with one out. When the count is full, a lot of managers call for the hit & run, where the runner tries to steal but the batter will try to hit the ball, too. Here’s why:
If the pitch is a ball, the batter gets first base and the runner gets second base automatically, so there’s no risk.
If the pitch is in the strike zone, the batter can hit the ball foul and the runner can come back safely to first base.
If the pitch is hittable and the batter hits it to an infielder, the runner’s jump start makes a double play unlikely- the fielder doesn’t have time to throw to second and only gets one out. The offense will end up with two outs and a runner in scoring position.
If the pitch is hit to the outfield, the runner can likely move up to third and can even score if the ball was hit far enough. The chance to score from first is a big part of the payoff for the risk.
You’ll also see the runners go on a 3-2 count with two outs since if the batter strike’s out, the inning is over anyways, so the runners can never be thrown out at all. Last night, the cards had the bases loaded in this situation, so the runner from third had no choice but to steal home, and strangely, nothing bad could possibly happen to him!
Unless, of course, the runner would be stupid enough to take his lead in fair territory, in which case he could be hit by a batted ball and thus out to end the inning (even though the batter would be credited with a base hit).
It’s burned in my brain from listening to baseball games on the radio. How many times have I heard the announcer say, “three, two the runners are going”?
I’ve always wondered why pitchers don’t throw to a base more often in these situations. It seems to me like runners are going on any motion by the pitcher, not just towards the plate.
I think it is more of a timing thing. If the pitcher throws a ball it doesn’t matter that the runners are going. If the pitcher throws a strike, who knows what will happen. If the pitcher tries to hold the runner at first by throwing there it can upset his rhythm. In that circumstance the runner at first won’t take too large of a lead. When he knows the pitcher is delivering to the plate he will take off (along with any other runners on base) knowing there is no downside to his action.
These guys have played thousands of games and they usually know the situation. Trying to pick off the runner at first under the circumstance is usually futile. Therefore, the best strategy is to get an out from the guy at the plate.
This is why a balk is illegal. The runners and coaches are watching the pitcher’s feet. If he doesn’t step off the rubber, that ball’s going to the plate.
The runners should be cautious about running on the pitch. They’re not trying to steal, so they don’t need to squeeze out every split second from the attempt. They should be running when it is clear that it’s a legitimate pitch, rather than running at the first sign of motion.
It’s also more important to pick off a base stealer, he’s trying to gain a huge advantage, a full extra base. These runners are just getting a bigger lead, so risking a pick off (that can be thrown wild) may not be a good option.
For the record, that’s technically not a “hit and run.” The hit and run play means the batter absolutely must attempt to hit the next pitch. You would not call it on a full count because, as you say, if it’s ball four, the batter should not swing. You see the hit and run put on a lot when the batter is behind in the count, 1-2 for example. And you’ll see a lot of batters take ugly swings at bad pitches because of the hit and run.
The true hit-and-run (where the batter must swing) is relatively uncommon with two strikes, for that very reason. 2-1 is probably the most popular hit-and-run count, followed by 1-1 and 1-0. If the runner runs and the batter swings with two strikes, it was probably a straight steal where the batter happened to swing.
I agree, you cannot have a true hit-and-run with three balls. You just have runners running on the pitch. There’s no standard catchy name for it.
I think it used to be the case that 2-1 was the obvious hit and run count because the odds of getting a fastball were high, but more pitchers now are throwing offspeed no matter the count. So, you’re seeing more hit and runs when behind in the count. Of course, that’s my completely unfounded observation.