Analysis of Batter-Runner Rundown Between First & Home As Pirates' Will Craig Chases Cubs' Javy Baez

When Pittsburgh's Will Craig stood in front of first base preparing to tag out Cubs batter-runner Javy Baez for the third out of Chicago's 3rd inning Thursday, Baez retreated toward home plate. Article: https://www.closecallsports.com/2021/05/running-batter-back-to-home-plate.html With two out and one on (R2 Willson Contreras), Baez hit a fairly routine ground ball to Pirates third baseman Erik Gonzalez, who threw to Craig at first base, the throw pulling Craig off the bag and toward home plate. Instead of running into the expected out, Baez turned back toward home plate and Craig gave chase. As Baez approached the dirt circle surrounding home plate, so too did base runner Contreras. Craig then threw the ball to catcher Michael Perez who attempted to tag Contreras as he slid head-first into home plate, ruled safe by HP Umpire Ryan Additon. The MLB Umpire Manual, surprisingly, address the precise case of a batter-runner getting into a rundown between home plate and first base and states that a batter-runner who retreats toward home plate shall, upon *reaching* home plate, be declared out for arriving at home plate. However, Baez did not actually get all the way back to home plate, so he was not declared out. Instead, after Craig released the ball to catcher Perez, Baez turned to run toward first base and actually collided with Craig, which could constitute Obstruction Type 1 (Type A). Nonetheless, Chicago's subsequent single scored Baez, who reached second due to a throwing error by Perez, and Chicago ended up scoring two runs they would otherwise have not earned had Pittsburgh's Craig simply stepped on first base to retire Baez for the inning's third out instead of chasing Baez back toward home plate. Chicago ultimately won the contest by two runs.