MLB’s arcane ’4th out rule’ was enforced during the Nationals-Pirates game
Anyone who knows baseball is aware that three outs ends an inning.
But the Major League Baseball rulebook includes a “fourth out” appeal which, frankly, rarely comes into play during a game. But it did Wednesday during the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 8-7 win over the Washington Nationals.
In the fifth inning, the Pirates had runners on second and third when Ke’Bryan Hayes’ soft line drive was caught by Nationals first baseman Josh Bell. The runners had tried to advance on contact, so Bell threw to third baseman Ehire Adrianza.
Adrianza tagged the Pirates’ Hoy Park, who had left second base, and then touched third base. The runner on third, Jack Suwinski, scored on the play despite not tagging up.
The Nationals, convinced that they had gotten three outs without a run scoring, left the field.
For anyone that missed it, here you go. Here's the sequence that led to the #Pirates scoring a run despite hitting into an inning-ending double play.
(@MLB) pic.twitter.com/DZGsBzUUUU— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPghSports) June 29, 2022
But the umpires convened and ruled the run scored before the tag for the third out (which is true), and because the Nationals left the field, they couldn’t appeal the runner had left third without tagging despite Adrianza touching the bag.
It’s the “Apparent Fourth Out” rule.
MLB rule 5.09(c)(4) says: “Any appeal under this rule must be made before the next pitch, or any play or attempted play. If the violation occurs during a play which ends a half-inning, the appeal must be made before the defensive team leaves the field.
“An appeal is not to be interpreted as a play or an attempted play.
“Successive appeals may not be made on a runner at the same base. ...
“Appeal plays may require an umpire to recognize an apparent ‘fourth out.’ If the third out is made during a play in which an appeal play is sustained on another runner, the appeal play decision takes precedence in determining the out. If there is more than one appeal during a play that ends a half-inning, the defense may elect to take the out that gives it the advantage.…
“For the purpose of this rule, the defensive team has ‘left the field’ when the pitcher and all infielders have left fair territory on their way to the bench or Clubhouse.”
In short, the Nationals should have touched third base before tagging the runner or not left the field. Then they would have been able to appeal the runner leaving the base early and the run wouldn’t have counted.
Instead, the Pirates scored a run on the play. Weird, right?
Home plate umpire Mark Wegner, who has 23 years of service time, told a pool reporter after the game, per Audacy: “This is the first time I’ve been on the field for something like this. ...
“(I)t’s a crazy play, but it was ruled correctly — but any time there’s an appeal, the player, the fielder, has to be doing it for the obvious intent of appealing. In the play that happened, when the third baseman tagged the runner, the third base umpire pointed and said, ‘He’s out. The runner’s out for the third out.’ Now at that point, if the third baseman wants to say, ‘I want to appeal that the guy that just scored from third left early,’ then we can call what’s called the ‘fourth out,’ and then he can step on the base for that. But it has to be an intentional-type thing.”
Weird, right?
