Scoring question in todays game...?

Question

Angels at home and batting bottom of 10th with a tie score. Runners at 1st and 2nd, the runner on 2nd being the potential winning run. Batter Aybar hits it to RF which bounces over the fence for a would be "ground rule" automatically sending the winning run home. After Aybar touches 1st base he turns around and heads to the dugout for the celebration. TV announcer says that because Aybar didn't make it to 2nd that he will be credited with a single.
Question- Is this typical for a walk off "ground rule double" to be scored a single, or if Aybar continued to run to 2nd it would have been scored a double?

David W mentions that this was actually a "book rule double", which is true. I have also read that "ground rule double" has become a universally understood misnomer generally used.

Answer 1

He would have been credited with the double had he gone to second, but it was his decision to go only as far as first that would cause the official scorer to give him only a single.

The ruling in the MLB rules says:

"Subject to the provisions of Rule 10.06(g), when a batter ends a game with a safe hit that drives in as many runs as are necessary to put his team in the lead, the official scorer shall credit such batter with only as many bases on his hit as are advanced by the runner who scores the winning run, and then only if the batter runs out his hit for as many bases as are advanced by the runner who scores the winning run."

Two exceptions to that are ground-rule doubles or home runs, hits where you have "earned" a specific number of bases. Had Aybar hit a homer and circled the bases, he'd get credit for a homer - the same applies for his ground rule double. (Correction - sorry, it would be a single!)

There was a famous example of this involving a Robin Ventura grand slam in the 1999 NLCS, where Ventura was mobbed before even reaching second - thus the term "grand slam single":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_Single

Answer 2

Craig's got it mostly right; in the case of a GRD, if there had been loaded bases, the batter would only get a single because the runner from third would score, ending the game with a win. In this case, the single goes on the scorecard because the batter did not bother advancing to second, which he was entitled to do under the circumstances.

Home runs are specifically excepted in the rules. Hit one out and you get ALL the runs, even if the first one in puts your team ahead. Note, though, the batter and all runners must still complete their circuit and touch all bases.

If you notice a box score won by the home team by scoring in the bottom of the ninth or in extras, and the margin of victory is greater than one, that game ended with a walk-off dinger.

Answer 3

It would only be scored as a single because the base hit brought home the run and as such only a single was needed. That is the easy way to look at it.

PS Batted ball bouncing over fence is a book rule double not ground rule double.

Answer 4

If Aybar had went ahead and touched second base, then it would have been scored a double. A player is credited with a double only when he makes it to second, regardless of whether it was a ground rule double or not. Aybar didn't go to second because it didn't really matter because the game was over.

Answer 5

Yes, the hitter has to actually make it to the base to get credit for the extra base hit. (i.e. If a batter hits a HR with a runner on base and his team needs 1 run to win, the batter can touch first and run to the dugout and only get credit for a single. The team would still win because the on-base runner crossed the plate.)

Answer 6

IMO, if he would have continued to second, he would have been awarded a double. Since he did not advance that far, he must be awarded a single.