Last night, someone visited from a forum where a question was posted about the most unearned runs given up by a team in one game. I didn't have the answer on the site, but last September, I posted about the most unearned runs charged to individual pitchers and that entry was linked to in the forum. Of course, once I saw that, I wanted to know what the answer actually was.
I'm sure unearned runs were far more common in the late 19th century and early 20th century, when errors occurred much more frequently. In fact, looking at the career numbers of some pitchers from then confirms this. Nearly one-third of the runs allowed by Christy Mathewson were unearned. One-quarter of the runs Walter Johnson allowed were unearned. Cy Young gave up over 1000 unearned runs in his career.
When so many runs were unearned, it's likely at least some blowout games saw a lot of unearned runs. I would also think unearned runs weren't very notable. Sure, fans might harp on a team's defense (or lack thereof), but giving up, say, five unearned runs in a game probably wouldn't have the same surprise factor as it would today. With that in mind, perhaps it's good that the following list covers 1956-2008, where a lot of errors in a game is pretty glaring.
Most Unearned Runs Allowed In a Game By One Team, 1956-2008
| Team | Opponent | Date | Runs | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Earned | Unearned | |||
| Houston Astros | New York Mets | 7/27/1985 | 16 | 0 | 16 |
| Houston Astros | Chicago Cubs | 5/31/1973 | 16 | 3 | 13 |
| Minnesota Twins | Kansas City Royals | 9/12/1976 | 16 | 3 | 13 |
| Texas Rangers | California Angels | 9/14/1978 | 16 | 3 | 13 |
| New York Yankees | Baltimore Orioles | 6/5/1989 | 16 | 3 | 13 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | Balitmore Orioles | 9/28/2000 | 23 | 10 | 13 |
| New York Mets | Los Angeles Dodgers | 8/26/1962 | 16 | 4 | 12 |
| Chicago Cubs | San Francisco Giants | 9/3/1963 | 16 | 5 | 11 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | Texas Rangers | 6/30/1992 | 16 | 5 | 11 |
| Boston Red Sox | Cleveland Indians | 7/14/1957 | 17 | 7 | 10 |
| Chicago Cubs | Montreal Expos | 6/25/1975 | 12 | 2 | 10 |
| San Francisco Giants | St. Louis Cardinals | 4/26/1976 | 15 | 5 | 10 |
| California Angels | Chicago White Sox | 5/31/1978 | 17 | 7 | 10 |
| Oakland Athletics | Minnesota Twins | 4/27/1980 | 20 | 10 | 10 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | Pittsburgh Pirates | 5/3/1985 | 16 | 6 | 10 |
| Oakland Athletics | Cleveland Indians | 6/7/1987 | 12 | 2 | 10 |
| Oakland Athletics | Chicago White Sox | 10/3/1987 | 17 | 7 | 10 |
| Minnesota Twins | New York Yankees | 7/22/1990 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Houston Astros | San Diego Padres | 4/7/1996 | 17 | 7 | 10 |
| Boston Red Sox | Toronto Blue Jays | 5/5/1996 | 11 | 1 | 10 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | Milwaukee Brewers | 10/7/2001 | 15 | 5 | 10 |
| Los Angeles Angels | New York Yankees | 8/3/2008 | 14 | 4 | 10 |
Hm, I guess sixteen runs allowed is the magic number for a lot of them to be unearned. I didn't realize the Angels gave up ten unearned runs only a couple weeks ago. I guess you learn something new every day.
4 comments:
Jay, you know I always look for trends or underlying causes in these great studies. In this case, scoring decisions may be partially attributable to the awarding of an error. Two factors immediately come to mind.
1) How many of these teams giving up all these unearned runs were the Home heam? It is the Home team's designated scorer who makes the Error decision, and that could factor into protecting a star pitcher's ERA.
2) What was the peak number of runs allowed in an inning of that game? If you have an early error, all the remaining runs for that inning are generally considered unearned, so an opponent can go on a roll against a despondent team and run up quite an inning.
Thank you for researching this question. It may have been my original question on Yahoo that is the inquiry you mentioned. I have searched for the answer to this question off and on ever since that game. What a relief to finally know the answer.
The reason I asked was that my father and I attended that Astros vs. Mets game back in 1985. As I recall it was part of a double header no less...possibly due to an earlier rain out. I kept score, but did not focus on stats like earned runs. After the game we were listening to the post game wrap up and, to our amazement, they mentioned all 16 runs the Mets scored were unearned and how unusual that was. Little did they know it probably set a record.
Thanks again.
I recall that Charlie Hough once gave up six or seven runs, all unearned, in a game in which his team committed NO errors! I am trying to research the oddity of pitchers giving up the most unearned runs in one game in which his team committed NO errors behind him! Believe it or not, this is possible!
Hi Dan, it looks like Geno Petralli had a tough time in the game you are thinking of: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET198708300.shtml
Six passed balls.
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