The core objective of baseball is pretty simple. It hasn't changed all that much over the centuries. Put the ball in play. Score runs. But what if those two were not actually mutually exclusive?
Speedy White Sox shortstop Luisangel Acuña proved it during Tuesday night's 6-4 loss to the Twins, manufacturing a third-inning run entirely on his own, without a single baseball being put in play. How, you ask?
Allow us to walk you through it, beginning with a walk.
Acuña worked the count full against Twins starter Connor Prielipp and then watched a 96 mph fastball up and away go by for ball four. That put him on first base.
Jacob Gonzalez came up next, and on the first pitch of the at-bat Acuña took off, swiping the bag with ease. That put him on second base.
Three pitches later, Acuña saw a window and took off for third. He had the base stolen, but Twins catcher Alex Jackson's throw sailed wide and went into left field, allowing Acuña to pop up and scamper home.
Though Acuña was only credited with two stolen bases (bringing his season total to 10), unlike Elly De La Cruz, who once stole all three bases in the span of three pitches, it was still an impressive feat. After all, De La Cruz had to put the ball in play to get on base. Not so for Acuña.
For frequent Gameday checkers, we might call that Not in Play Run(s).