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…Researched and contributed by Solomon Thomas.
Oakland Athletics’ Chad Smith earned his first major league win in a peculiar way, thanks to a rarely-applied rule.
Smith pitched the last two innings of the Athletics’ 8-4 win against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.
He held the Orioles scoreless, giving up only one hit.
Smith replaced Jeurys Familia, who was taken out of the game, meaning he could have been given the win. However, he was not awarded it because the official scorer deemed his outing too short and ineffective.
Familia gave up two earned runs in less than an inning of work, which led to the scorer using Rule 9.17 (c) to award the win to Smith, who was the most effective reliever.
Familia came on with one out in the seventh inning and the Athletics up 4-2, but after a passed ball, pinch-hitter Cedric Mullins hit an RBI single to tie it.
The rulebook says, “The official scorer shall not credit as the winning pitcher a relief pitcher who is ineffective in a brief appearance, when at least one succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively in helping his team maintain its lead.
In such a case, the official scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher the succeeding relief pitcher who was most effective, in the judgment of the official scorer.”
Chad Smith, who was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas, had to wake up early in the morning to fly to the game.
He struck out three without a walk. Despite being unsure of the outcome, he was happy to have contributed to the win. Smith initially thought he had earned a save but was thrilled to find out he had been credited with the win.
He said, “It’s great. This is why we play the game.” It was Smith’s 16th big league appearance and his first win.