an infielder. The ball is dead and no runner may score, nor runners advance, except runners forced to advance. EXCEPTION: If a runner is touching their base when touched by an infield fly, they are not out, although the batter is out; they intentionally abandon their effort to run the bases after touching first base; or they run the bases in reverse order in an attempt to confuse the defence or to make a travesty of the game. Crediting outs In baseball statistics, each out must be credited to exactly one defensive player, namely the player who was the direct cause of the out. When referring to outs credited to a defensive player, the term putout is used. Example: a batter hits a fair ball that is fielded by the shortstop. The shortstop then throws the ball to the first baseman. The first baseman then steps on first base before the batter reaches it. For this play, only the first baseman is credited with a putout, while the shortstop is credited with an assist. For a strikeout, the catcher is credited with a putout, because the batter is not out until the pitched ball is caught by the catcher. (If the catcher drops the third strike and has to throw the batter-runner out at the first base, the first baseman receives the putout while the catcher receives an assist.) When an out is recorded without a fielder's direct involvement, such as where a runner is hit by a batted ball, the fielder nearest to the action is usually credited with the putout. Although pitchers seldom get credited with putouts, they are credited with their role in getting outs through various pitching statistics such as innings pitched (a measure of the number of outs made by the pitcher, used in calculating their ERA) and strikeouts. Outs that occur in specific situations Certain terms are sometimes used to better describe the circumstances under which an out occurred. For strike outs: A strike out looking means that a third strike was called because the ball was in the strike zone A strikeout swinging refers to a swinging third strike. For force outs and/or tag outs (outs that retire runners): Throw out: refers to when a throw is made to a fielder covering a base, who then uses the ball to put out a runner coming to that base. Ground out: when the batter