Runner on second, nobody out, but how did he get there? No, you haven’t gone crazy. Welcome to extra innings with the Bees.

This might not make any sense.

It still doesn’t to some of those who’ve now gone through a new alternate timeline in the exhaustive history of baseball. Ask around and you get shrugged shoulders, guys shaking their heads, trying to find the right words to describe how their game — and potentially path to the Major Leagues — suddenly can be so different.

Change and baseball aren’t a comfortable pairing and never have been.

So when a series of new rules were announced in March aimed at reducing the length of extra-inning games and number of mound visits during a game throughout minor league baseball, the one that topped the list has proved to be most, let’s say, unnatural.

Salt Lake Bees relief pitcher Ian Krol was in offseason mode then, doing his best to enjoy the rare time off before the Triple-A season began. He tries to unplug. And he did. It wasn’t until the night of April 9 that the lefty was introduced to a mind-bending scenario that he had to shake off because he had no other choice.

Krol dusted off his last warmup pitch to the bullpen catcher and jogged toward the mound. He was met by catcher Juan Graterol, who asked what sign he preferred for a runner on second. It was the top of the 10th inning and no other pitcher had toed the rubber. Krol was the first. Graterol let his reliever know.

There’s going to be a runner on second base.

“What?” was all Krol could muster.

And when he eventually settled in, he technically got a shutdown inning but still gave up a run. He still recites the inning in less than 10 seconds. Groundball to short but runner advanced to third. The next batter singled to right field allowing the Albuquerque Isotopes a temporary 4-3 lead. Krol ended the top of the 10th with a line out to center field then a strikeout.

One hit. No walks. One very odd run on the board.

“A guy didn’t go out there, give up a double and then you have to walk in and get him out of the situation,” Krol said.

If you make your way to Smith’s Ballpark for a game this season and happen to see a runner trot out to second base between innings, don’t worry. You haven’t had too many beers or aren’t on a sugar high from cotton candy. This is the new extra-inning rule across the minors, an attempt to speed up the game and ensure managers don’t have to use too many pitchers in relief.

According to the new rules, the runner at second is the player in the batting order position previous to the leadoff batter for the inning. If the cleanup batter is due up, the guy in the third sport heads to second. For those box score enthusiasts, the runner is deemed to have reached second on a fielding error but no error is assigned to the opposing team or specific player.

“It’s weird just because you think about the history of the game,” Bees manager Keith Johnson said. “There’s never been anything like that. It’s been implemented and it’s part of the game now. You’ve just got to deal with it the best you can.”

To no surprise, it was the talk of the clubhouse early in the season and still is. Outfielder Eric Young Jr. thought it was a joke at first until a teammate explained in detail what was going to change.

“Still wrapping my head around it,” he said. “Personally, I think you’ve got to earn your way on base. That’s just how the game is played.”

Ironically, Young Jr. said outfield alignments are typically in no-doubles defense to start extra innings, meaning the rule change doesn’t allow anyone time to take a pitch off. It could be the first pitch of the inning that changes the outcome of a game.

“You’ve just got to have the right hitters up,” Bees infielder Kaleb Cowart said.

But is something as delicate as a late run allowed — earned or not — something that could deter a position player or relief pitcher from getting a positive look from the big-league club? Everyone in the minors is there to work his way up and get his shot.

“I don’t think that loss goes into a special loss column,” Krol said. “It stays on your record. Where did we go wrong here? It’s a delicate game, man. It’s old school, and I think it should just be left alone. I don’t care how long it takes. I honestly don’t. We’re out here getting paid to play baseball. We signed up for this.”

The Bees went on to win their lone extra-inning game so far this season on April 9, tying the game in the bottom of the 10th and again cashing in on the runner at second in the bottom of the 11th. And Krol’s line remains: One inning pitched, one hit, a single, one strikeout and one very maddening unearned run.