Rundown

This article is about the situation in baseball. For other uses, see Rundown (disambiguation).

A typical rundown situation in baseball showing a baserunner for the Texas Rangers as he attempts to evade the Chicago Cubs defense.

A rundown, informally known as a pickle or the hotbox, is a situation in the game of baseball that occurs when the baserunner is stranded between two bases and is in jeopardy of being tagged out. When the base runner attempts to advance to the next base, he is cut off by the defensive player who has a live ball and attempts to return to his previous base before being tagged out. As he is doing this, the defenseman throws the ball past the base runner to the previous base, forcing him to reverse directions again. This is repeated until the runner is put out or reaches a base safely.

A rundown can be escaped if either a fielder makes a throwing error, the runner manages to get around the fielder without running out of the baseline, or the runner manages to sneak by the fielder without the ball while the other fielder involved has the ball and there is no other fielder involved to cover at the runner's destination base.

The word rundown in sports broadcasting has overtaken the word pickle throughout the years. Pickle is more so used to describe the children's yard game where two fielders must tag the runner before the runner reaches a base or objective, which, although a fundamental part of baseball, is a game in and of itself. The use of the term "pickle" originated with the phrase "in a pickle", which means to be in a pickling (difficult or troubling) situation.

Baseball concepts

Field	Backstop Baseball diamond Batter's box Batter's eye Bullpen Dugout Foul territory Foul pole Infield On-deck circle Outfield Warning track

Equipment	Ball Bat Batting cage Batting glove Batting helmet Cap Doughnut Glove (defense) Pitching machine Protective cup Shin guard Stirrups Uniform Uniform number

Game process	Batting order Extra innings Innings On-deck Out Run Seventh-inning stretch

Batting	At bat Baltimore chop Chinese home run Batting count Bunt Checked swing Cleanup hitter Designated hitter Double Double switch Foul ball Foul tip Grand slam Ground rule double Hit Hit and run Hit by pitch Hitting for the cycle Home run Infield hit Inside-the-park home run Leadoff hitter Lefty-righty switch Line drive Moonshot Plate appearance Platoon system Pull hitter Sacrifice bunt Sacrifice fly Single Slap bunt Strikeout Strike zone Sweet spot Triple Walk Walk-off home run

Pitching	Balk Beanball Breaking ball Brushback pitch Changeup Curveball Fastball Full count Inside pitching Knuckleball No-hitter Passed ball Perfect game Pitch count Pitchout Quick pitch Shutout Slider Spitball Strikeout Striking out the side Time of pitch Wild pitch

Baserunning	Balk Bases loaded Caught stealing Contact play Left on base Safe Scoring position Slide Small ball Squeeze play Stolen base Tag up

Fielding	Appeal play Assist Catch Defensive indifference Double play Error Fielder's choice Force play Fourth out Hidden ball trick Infield shift In-between hop Pickoff Rundown Tag out Triple play Unassisted triple play Wall climb Wheel play

Miscellaneous	Bench jockey Bench-clearing brawl Blocking the plate Dead ball Golden sombrero Ground rules Baseball jargon In flight Infield fly rule Interference Pepper Shagging Slump Uncaught third strike

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