Earned vs unearned runs

[Guest Trask Buxton]

Batter reaches first on error.  Next batter singles, first batter goes to third.  Next batter hits sac fly scoring first batter.  Next batter hits home run scoring two more runs.  How many of these three runs are unearned?

[beerguy55]

Depends on how many outs there are - is the batter who reached on error the first batter of the inning, or was there one out already?

The run scored by the batter who got on by error is unearned.

After that it depends if the sac fly was out one, or out two.

If it's out one, then the two runs on the HR are earned.

If it's out two, there are zero earned runs (because it "should" have been out three if there had been no error) - and any further runs scored would also be unearned.

 

Edit: there's also a quirky score keeping rule if there is a change of pitchers which could result in "team" unearned runs, but "pitcher" earned runs.  ie. if a new pitcher comes in after the sac fly, with two out, and allows the home run, the team would have three unearned runs for the inning, but the first pitcher would get two unearned runs and the second pitcher would get one earned run.

[Richvee]

Rule of thumb- "reconstruct" the inning without the error (assume an out on something like a booted ground ball, and no advance on something like a throwing error from the outfield on a clean single). Runs that score in the reconstructed inning are earned.