Sacrifice_fly

In baseball, a batted ball is considered a sacrifice fly if the following four criteria are met:

• There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.
• The ball is hit to the outfield.
• The batter is out because an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield catches the ball (or would have been out if not for an error).
• A runner who is already on base scores on the play.

The sacrifice fly is addressed in Rule 10.09(e) of the Official Baseball Rules.

Nuances of the rules

A sacrifice fly is not counted as a turn at bat for the batter, though the batter is credited with a run batted in. The purpose of not counting a sacrifice fly as an at bat is to avoid penalizing hitters for a successful tactical maneuver. The sacrifice fly is one of two instances in baseball where a batter is not charged with a time at bat after putting a ball in play; the other is the sacrifice hit.

A sacrifice fly reduces a players\' on base percentage.

The sacrifice fly is still credited even if another runner is put out on appeal for failing to tag up, so long as the run scores prior to the third out. In the case of a fly ball dropped for an error, the sacrifice fly is only credited if the official scorer believes the run would have scored had the ball been caught.

In most cases, the sacrifice fly results because a runner scores from third base. However, in rare cases, a fast runner may legally tag up and score from second base if the fly ball were hit to a particularly deep part of the field. By rule, this is still credited as a sacrifice fly and an RBI, unless the player only reaches home due to an error.

A player on a hitting streak cannot count a sacrifice fly as a hit.

A sacrifice fly introduces a subtle change in batting strategies. Normally, a line drive is seen^{[attribution needed]} as more likely to result in a hit than a fly ball. However, with a player on third and fewer than two outs, a hard-hit fly ball is of equal or even higher value, since it is likely to go farther and become a sacrifice fly, thus producing a run.

Records

The most sacrifice flies by a team in one game is five; the record was established by the Seattle Mariners in 1988 and tied by the Colorado Rockies in 2006.Torrealba\'s slam, five sac flies power Rockies past Bucs, ESPN News.

Since the rule was reinstated in its present form, Gil Hodges of the Dodgers holds the record for most sacrifice flies in one season with 19, in 1954;^{[citation needed]} Eddie Murray holds the record for most sacrifice flies in a career with 128.^{[citation needed]}

As of the 2007 season^{[update needed]}, players who have hit 115 or more career sacrifice flies:Historical Player Stats, MLB.com.