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A Triple into the Outfield

A batter advancing to third base on a base hit, no matter where the ball is hit, and provided there’s no error on the play, is called a "triple". Triples are sometimes referred to as “doubles with speed,” though with a ground ball triple, you’re looking at “speed + luck,” as the ball has to get hit to just the right spot— and usually this specifically means down the first- or third-base line, where the ball rattles around in the corners a bit, making it difficult to retrieve cleanly. If the outfielder isn’t 100% efficient, and the batter/runner is fast, the batter/runner can get a triple, easily.

This is where we would usually go onto say that a runner who is really feeling themselves, as they near third base, could say to themselves “why not try for the whole dang thing?” and head for home. This is technically possible, but a search of MLB’s video room shows exactly one instance of this happening on a ground ball¹, so we are going to just go ahead and cut things off before they get too ridiculous.

By definition, if there were any runners on base before a triple, they will score on that triple, because with the batter/runner pulling into third, there's nowhere else for those other runners to go. You will sometimes hear a play like this called a "bases-clearing triple," which is kind of true, in that the bases who started on base are now cleared, though there's still a runner at third, so are the bases really clear? Are they?

Er, anyway... After dusting themselves off, the batter/runner takes third, and the inning continues.