Baseball is a team sport which developed in North America in the 19th century out of similar bat-and-ball sports played at the time in Europe. The game has developed into an international sport, with professional leagues existing in North America as well as Asia, Australia and Europe. In baseball, teams attempt to score runs by successfully moving runners around a base path; several rules exist for run scoring.
Home Plate
When a batter, standing in the batter's box before home plate, puts a ball into the field of play and reaches first base safely, he becomes a baserunner. To score a run, a baserunner must advance around the base path--touching second and third base--before reaching home plate without either being forced out or tagged out. Runners can advance when a batter puts a ball into play, on a throwing error by the fielding team and by stealing a base while play is live. One run is scored for the batting team every time a baserunner makes a circuit around the basepath and crosses home plate during a live play.
Home Run
When a batter hits a home run--a flyball that clears the outfield fence in fair territory--the batter and all baserunners, if there are any, are permitted to circuit the bases and cross home plate without the fielding team being allowed to make a play. An inside-the-park home run, which is a continuous live play for the fielders, is a hit that stays in the field of play and allows the batter time to circuit the bases and reach home plate before being tagged out. Just as with a standard home run, all runners on the basepath score when crossing home plate on an inside-the-park home run.
Force Out
The batting team is given three outs each inning, and an inning ends when the fielding team achieves three outs. If a baserunner successfully crosses home plate on a play in which the fielding team gets the third out on a force out, even if the forced out is achieved after the runner crosses home plate, the run does not count. It should be noted a force out happens when a fielder in possession of the ball touches a base to which a runner is forced to reach before the runner reaches the base. If a fielder tags a runner with the ball, this is not considered a force out, and any player who crosses home plate before the tagged out scores a run.
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