[mbyron]

I agree with verbalizing "That's passing!" But there's still a problem here.

The problem is that, like runner interference on a batted ball, the BR is out at the moment he passes another runner. Unlike runner interference, however, the ball is still live. We still need to be able to explain to the offense why this is not a time play.

Clearly, the BR cannot be out twice, once on a fly out and once for passing. Hence one of the outs must be "provisional," in the sense that it won't ultimately count. Which one?

The passing occurred before the catch, but the batted ball occurred before the passing. In every other rule, the BR's status depends on what happens to his batted ball; so I'm going to call the out for passing provisional.

As UmpTTS43 suggests: if the fly ball is caught, BR is out on the catch, otherwise he's out on the passing. No run will score in this sitch unless the ball is dropped and R3 scores before the passing.

A genuine application of 9.01(c)?