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There's a major difference between "interfering with a play" and "interfering with the opportunity to make a play".
The ruling, which is in agreement with both FED and OBR rules, calls the batter "out", regardless of outs already recorded, and places the runners back at their bases at the "Time of Interference". The scenario you reported did just that.
Had the catcher been attempting to put the tag on R3 and THEN (or at the same time) the batter did something to interfere, then you'd call R3 out.
In what you cited, and what is more probable, the catcher never had the opportunity to attempt a play. The interference occurred before that point.
Jerry
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