I was at Fenway the other night (go Sox!) and there was a play that I wasn’t sure about. A runner on first was running the bases after a base hit. He was interfered with by the shortstop as he went by, Nomar apparently didn’t move out of the runner’s path. A throw came in from the outfield and the runner was tagged out at home.
The second base ump called interference, talked to the home plate ump (who called the runner out) and the run was allowed, to the grumbling of the Fenway Faithful, but the game went on.
Now, is that an earned run? Was the run scored as a result of the error, and therefore unearned? Or inspite of the error, and would have been earned if Nomar hadn’t interfered, and therefore an earned run?
I assume by “the other night” you mean the Aug 26 game against the Blue Jays. According to the pitch by pitch game log the play occured on Reed Johnson’s 2nd inning single. The run (and interference activity) was centered around Eric Hinske.
According to the box score, Tim Wakefield gave up 7 runs, only 5 of which were earned. By looking at the detail of the game, you can see that Hinske was credited with going to third on the single, but scored due to the interference, which was listed as Nomar’s 15th error of the season. Hence, it was an unearned run. Further support for this comes from the box score where Johnson is listed as going 1 for 5 with no RBI.
Yup, that was the game.
It seems to me that Wakefield should have been charged with that run, since if Nomar hadn’t interferred, according to the ump, the run would have scored. Or does the ump call interference regardless if he thinks the play would have come out differently? Hinske looked to be headed for home even as he rounded second base. The 3rd base coach was already signaling him home.
Glad I stayed until the ninth, I got to see an inside-the-park homer from right behind homeplate.
About a decade or so ago it wouldn’t have mattered. Anything after an error was an unearned run. But then some wise person decided that the official scorer should decided whether the run would have scored anyway.
In the case you describe, the run scored directly as a result of interference. Interference calls for the awarding of a free base. So the baserunner in this case was awarded home. Unearned run.