Runner

[tommyleo]

With two out, R1 and R2 are only 20 feet apart and both are heading to third. The third-base coach sends R2 home -- and R1 runs through the coach's stop sign. There's a play on R2, who avoids the catcher's tag AND misses homeplate, too. The catcher, realizing that R2 hadn't touched homeplate, chases after R2 who is trying to find a way back to touch homeplate safely. R1 steps on homeplate before the catcher can tag R2 for the third out of the inning.

Since R2 hadn't yet touched home when R1 did, is R1 called out for passing R2? That would be the third out and no runs would count.

Alternatively, what if R2, after R1 crossed the plate, avoided the catcher and was able to scoot back safely to the plate? That ruling there seems obvious: R1 would have to be called out since he stepped on the plate before R2 did -- hence, R1 would have "passed" R2.