Baseball fans - Is it possible to get EIGHT "theoretical" outs in one half inning of baseball? [View all]
There are lots of baseball rules I don't know, so this might not make any sense... but:
(For the following sequence, suspend a lot of your disbelief).
1. The half inning begins. Catcher drops the third strike and batter reaches first safely.
2. Runner at first steals 2nd.
3. Catcher drops the third strike again. Batter reaches first safely.
4. Runners at 1st and 2nd steal 2nd and 3rd.
5. Catcher drops the third strike again. Batter reaches first safely. Bases are loaded.
6. Next batter strikes out. One real out so far.
7. The next batter hits a line drive to right field and makes a diving catch. 2nd real out. All the base runners run at full speed, not realizing the ball was actually caught. The runner at third runs for home and scores WITHOUT TAGGING UP. Immediately after that, the right fielder throws to first base because the runner from first did not tag up. The third real out of the inning occurs...
BUT...
8. The first baseman forgets how many outs there were and throws to second for a meaningless fourth out.
9. The second basemen realizes that the run counts even though the runner from third did not tag up. He throws to third for the fifth out of the inning (the third real out).
Is the above half inning possible?