AUGUST 8, 1954 | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – There are rallies and then there are rallies. How about one the Brooklyn Dodgers had on this date in 1954? The Dodgers scored 12 runs after two outs in the eighth inning. They scored 13 total and went on to pound the Cincinnati Reds 20-7 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
The game also provided a couple good examples of why the official scoring for earned run average (ERA) should be changed.
Amazingly, only one of the 13 runs given up in the eighth was earned, despite four Reds pitchers giving up seven hits and seven walks. Neither Cincinnati pitchers Jackie Collum nor Frank Smith got anybody out, but their ERAs did not go up a lick (there’s something not right about that type of scoring) because twelve of the runs scored after an error by Reds third baseman Chuck Harmon, long before Collum or Smith got in the game.
Here’s another example of what’s wrong with ERA scoring; a relief pitcher can be called into a game because the starter is showing some weakness. He could give up a bases clearing triple. None of those runs are charged to him. I get that. But here’s what’s crazy. Despite giving up a bases clearing triple, if he gets the next batter out his ERA goes down.
Contributing Source:
August 8, 1954 box score
