force play
- noun
- Specialized
:
jugada forzada
- However, the reason that the rule is to be invoked as early as possible by the umps is to make it clear that the force play is no longer available, that extra outs are not going to be allowed, and to allow the players to react to the play accordingly.
Examples
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Your next question is probably why: before the Infield Fly Rule, the outfielder could "accidentally" drop the ball, then feed it to third base, who would get a runner out on a force play and throw it on for a double play.
Blog text (27) -
The runner was tagged out during a critical force play at second base.
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Actually hit into a force play to end the inning.
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He has struck out, bounced into a forced play, and walked.
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The team lost the game after getting caught in a force play at third base.
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In the ninth inning, his hit resulted in a force play that ended the rally.
Synonyms
8
7.3
A baseball play where a runner is put out by a fielder touching the base while holding the ball
1
7.2
A baseball out that happens when a fielder holding the ball touches the base a runner must reach
A play when a runner must go to a base and a player holding the ball touches it first
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'force' (in its baseball sense: a forced-out situation) combined with 'play' (an action or sporting maneuver) yields a directly compositional meaning — a play involving a force/forced runner out. Although sport-specific vocabulary may be unfamiliar to some learners, the semantic combination follows a regular noun+noun compounding pattern, so a learner who knows the constituent senses can infer the MWE.
Etymology
The baseball term force play comes from the image of a runner being pushed forward by a force while the defence makes a play to get them 'out'. So, if a fielder touches the base with the ball before the runner arrives, the runner is 'out', and that exact action is called a force play.