Batting a Sacrifice

Though not exactly like the sacrifice bunt in baseball, there is a kind of sacrifice play in Kardball, in which a batter intentionally makes an out in order to give his team an advantage.

Forcing the Ace

Since it's not quite as predictable as the play it's named after, perhaps a better name would be "forcing the Ace." Preferably while there are still no outs, a batter matches a pitch card exactly, seeking either of two outcomes: either he scores a home run, or he forces the defense to play an Ace.  Getting rid of that Ace puts the next two batters in an excellent position to score.

Getting dealt even one Ace on defense is statistically unlikely. (Although we've seen outfields that were dealt two or more Aces, it's rare.)  So it will take another swing at a home run for the table to know for sure if there's another Ace lurking in the outfield. 

Once the offense realizes there are no Aces in the field, the home run derby begins. It will take some smart pitching and a fair amount of luck to stop a scoring rally.

Sacrifice Early

The ideal time to sacrifice is before the first out. If the first batter forces an Ace, you can still survive yet another sacrifice (if necessary) to get the defensive guard down. In fact, a good sacrifice strategy would be to sac early and sac often: the longer you let the Pitcher draw cards, the more chances he gets to pull another Ace.

No Fighting the "Force"

While there are cases in which the defense might intentionally give up a base hit in order to conserve a strategic outfield card, this is no such case.  Playing the Ace is a no-brainer, and that's that.

And that fact means that a well-executed sacrifice is one of the best angles a team has for driving runs off the luck of the deal.  The odds suggest the defense won't have more than one Ace at the first batter-up. One or two quick swings at a matching pitch card takes the upper hand. Ace or no Ace, the longer an inning drags on against a wily defense, the more their skill can influence the flow.