NewUmpire posted:
With R2 on second, R3 on third and one out, B1 homers. R3 touches the plate and maliciously crashes into the catcher, who was standing out of the basepath. R2, who had been running on the pitch, touched the plate immediately after R3 and before R3’s contact with the catcher.
Agree that "D" (and eject R3) is the accepted answer, but it could be argued that the batter's run should not score either.
Rule 5-1-1-m is immediate dead ball for malicious contact . Rule 8-2-6-k says no following run can score after the third out on a base-running infraction. And even when bases are awarded (home run), the bases must still be touched in proper order. And Fed rules already call for disallowing the run for a batter who hits a home run and is called out for passing another runner on the base path.
But what about the question of why R2 was running on the pitch with his teammate on third base? :-)