Ball hit twice - Braves vs. Padres
Recently retired coach and long-time Braves fan with a good one from the game yesterday.
Jace Peterson at bat with bases loaded. He swings, makes contact deflecting ball into ground right at home plate (hard to tell if ball hits fair/foul, not sure it makes a difference). Batted ball then bounces up and hits off of Peterson's bat as he's following through on his swing. Ball rolls down the 1st base line, Peterson beats it out, and R3 scores.
Umps didn't see the second hit, let the play stand, and Bud Black gets tossed in the ensuing fireworks.
Should this fall under OBR 6.05(h):
A batter is out when after hitting or bunting a fair ball, his bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. The ball is dead and no runners may advance. If the batter-runner drops his bat and the ball rolls against the bat in fair territory and, in the umpire’s judgment, there was no intention to interfere with the course of the ball, the ball is alive and in play.
The play yesterday got me thinking about Hunter Pence's batted ball (think in the WS?) where he hit the ball, his bat breaks, and the broken top half strikes the ball again. The play continued in that case (SS made an absolute fantastic adjustment on the redirected ball). Sure enough, here's the 6.05(h) comment:
If a bat breaks and part of it is in fair territory and is hit by a batted ball or part of it hits a runner or fielder, play shall continue and no interference called. If batted ball hits part of a broken bat in foul territory, it is a foul ball.
Is that the right rule for this situation? Announcers were thinking it should have been a foul ball (so I know that's probably not right) and just wanted to know what the call should have been.
Thanks in advance.
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