Yankees batter Chris Stewart struck after seeing just two strikes Thursday night, a foul ball and swinging strike from the arm of Orioles pitcher Bruce Chen. In this week's
Ask the UEFL feature, we examine Stewart's two-K strikeout on just two thrown pitches for strikes and open the floor to a group Case Play.
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| Wolf gestures strike two as Stewart walks away. |
As we have
previously discussed, a baserunner who retreats to the dugout before being legally put out can be ruled out for abandoning his effort to touch the next base under Rule 7.08(a)(2). Previous Case Plays have delved into similar territory, finding in
2012 that the instance of a runner retreating from home to third base and continuing up the left field foul line may be declared out for abandonment as he is no longer attempting to touch a base.
Yet the present Stewart scenario concerns not the runner as in Rule 7.00 but the batter as in Rule 6.00 as Stewart saw three pitches—ball, foul and swinging strike.
Q: Does batter abandonment (1) appear within the rules and (2) govern this situation, does the batter here become a runner and become subject to Rule 7.08(a)(2) or does another rule apply? Do umpires, as Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay suggests, have an obligation to call the batter back to home plate if he mistakenly retreats to the dugout on a strike two pitch?
Video:
After three pitches—one ball and two strikes—Stewart walks away for an out (NYY)
