Kerry Wood pitches 4 strikeouts in an inning (can someone explain how this is possible?)

[Phokus]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0902/1426310.html

Ok, given that you can only have 3 strikeouts in an inning, can someone explain this to me please? The guy explaining it to me said something like this, "Strike out in the dirt and the runner beats it out." and logged off. I don't get what he means by that.

 

[Francodman]

The catcher has to catch the ball inorder to get an out.. If he misses, he usually grabs the ball and tags him out.

 

[XMan]

If the ball goes in the dirt on a called strike three, the catcher has to throw it to first base to make it official, I think.

 

[Random Variable]

If the catcher drops the ball on strike 3, he has to throw the ball to first base.

 

[NeoV]

or "throw"

what likely happened is a wild pitch was swung at and missed for strike 3, yet the batter was able to run to first base before the catcher could get the ball and throw it to first base...

Wood simply struck out the next guy too!

 

[dman]

Interesting. So, they can't get 4 outs in an inning, but, the pitcher gets credited w/ a strikeout even if the batter isn't "out". That's f'd up right there.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: Francodman
The catcher has to catch the ball inorder to get an out.. If he misses, he usually grabs the ball and tags him out.

Ok, if it's 2 strikes, and the pitcher throws a strike... but the catcher misses the ball and it goes behind him, the guy at bat can run to the base? Ok, but i still don't understand how you can have more than 3 strikeouts...

Edit: Ok, i guess the other explanations cleared it up.

 

[UltraQuiet]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: Francodman
The catcher has to catch the ball inorder to get an out.. If he misses, he usually grabs the ball and tags him out.

Ok, if it's 2 strikes, and the pitcher throws a strike... but the catcher misses the ball and it goes behind him, the guy at bat can run to the base? Ok, but i still don't understand how you can have more than 3 strikeouts...

It still counts as a strikeout in the pitching stats, it's just not an out.

 

[MiataGirl]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: Francodman
The catcher has to catch the ball inorder to get an out.. If he misses, he usually grabs the ball and tags him out.

Ok, if it's 2 strikes, and the pitcher throws a strike... but the catcher misses the ball and it goes behind him, the guy at bat can run to the base? Ok, but i still don't understand how you can have more than 3 strikeouts...

well I'm guessing he would've had to strike out the first the first two..so that's two..then he strikes out the next guy but the catcher misses the ball, the hitter reaches base..so that's three strikeouts but only two outs. then wood would (haha) strike out the next guy for #4.

hope that was clear!

Jules

 

[FrogDog]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: Francodman
The catcher has to catch the ball inorder to get an out.. If he misses, he usually grabs the ball and tags him out.

Ok, if it's 2 strikes, and the pitcher throws a strike... but the catcher misses the ball and it goes behind him, the guy at bat can run to the base? Ok, but i still don't understand how you can have more than 3 strikeouts...

First off let me clear one thing up - Some people think it's only if the catcher drops the ball - that's wrong. If the catcher were to pick the ball on a hop and catch it cleanly it's still not yet an out. The rule is based on whether the ball hits the ground at all.

The pitcher can get an infinite amount of strikeouts in one inning. When a 3rd strike pitch hits the dirt (the batter swung or the umpire is just really poor ) then the batter needs to be either tagged out or thrown out at first (provided first base was not occupied by a runner at the time). If the catcher fails to do one of those things, the strikeout is recorded, but an out is not.

Edit - Just another interesting fact - No one has ever struck out 5 batters in one inning, but 4 has been done numerous times...