Inherited Runners & Fielders Choice

[rjteal]

What is the impact of a FC play on inherited runners who later score in the inning? Which pitcher gets charged with the run scored by the runner who reached on a FC from both an ERA and IRA perspective?

Here is the situation: The starting pitcher walks player A. So there is a runner on 1st, nobody out. A relief pitcher comes into the game. Batter B hits a ground ball that is fielded cleanly and Runner A is put out at 2nd, Batter B reaches 1st on a FC.

As the inning proceeds, B eventually comes around to score.

Does that run count as an Earned Run against the starting pitcher or the relief pitcher?
Does that run count as an Inherited Run against the relief pitcher?

As I understand the rules, it is charged as an Earned Run to the starting pitcher because B never would have reached the base except for the fact that A was already on base.

And it is charged as an Inherited Run to the relief pitcher even though the specific player he inherited never scored due to the FC.

In other words, the pitchers are responsible for the "number" of inherited runners (i.e. the number of runners on base when he left the game), not the specific players.

Is my interpretation correct?

[rjteal]

I found the answer in Rule 10.18 (g) and the interpretation is correct:

10.18 (g) When pitchers are changed during an inning, the relief pitcher shall not be charged with any run (earned or unearned) scored by a runner who was on base at the time he entered the game, nor for runs scored by any runner who reaches base on a fielder's choice which puts out a runner left on base by the preceding pitcher.

NOTE: It is the intent of this rule to charge each pitcher with the number of runners he put on base, rather than with the individual runners. When a pitcher puts runners on base, and is relieved, he shall be charged with all runs subsequently scored up to and including the number of runners he left on base when he left the game, unless such runners are put out without action by the batter, i.e., caught stealing, picked off base, or called out for interference when a batter runner does not reach first base on the play.

[Stephen Rakonza]

Right you are. K-ForCE supports this. We do NOT automatically enforce this, however. If the runner is stranded, no stats are affected. If the run scores, however, you need to specify the responsible pitcher. We may set this automatically in the future, but we wanted a way to explicitly set this.

[Stephen Rakonza]

Correction, this feature is available in iPhone v1.5, and is part of the v5.0 release (available soon).