Answering Baseball Bob

I was going to answer this in the comments, but it was from a few days ago. It would have been buried and I felt Baseball Bob deserved upfront answers to the questions from his comment on this post.

Here is Bob's comment in full:

Just listening to today,s game and had some questions: 1) why was Arnett charged with the 2 runs in the 4th inn? 2) In Odorizzi's start on May 3rd his line was 5 runs 4 earned. The two runners that were on base when he left the game were his, I understand that but the 1 runner was forced out at home so should'nt he have 4 runs 3 earned charged to him? 3) some blogs are talking about the high era of the pitching staff would'nt this era be lower if the team didn't have so many errors?

Here is the situation for the game in question #1:

Beloit Top 4th

* Angel Morales strikes out swinging.
* Anderson Hidalgo hit by pitch.
* With Daniel Rams batting, wild pitch by Eric Arnett, Anderson Hidalgo to 2nd.
* Daniel Rams lines out to first baseman Cutter Dykstra.
* With Josmil Pinto batting, Anderson Hidalgo steals (3) 3rd base.
* Josmil Pinto walks.
* Wang-Wei Lin singles on a ground ball to shortstop Carlos George. Anderson Hidalgo scores. Josmil Pinto to 2nd.
* Aaron Hicks singles on a line drive to center fielder D' Vontrey Richardson. Josmil Pinto scores. Wang-Wei Lin to 3rd.
* James Beresford grounds out to first baseman Cutter Dykstra.

Arnett was charged with two runs in the fourth inning, because he was the pitcher in the fourth inning and two runs scored while he was in the game. Play-by-play | Boxscore

Here is the situation from the game on May 3 that involved Odorizzi. Play-by-play | Boxscore.

Beloit Bottom 4th

* James Beresford hit by pitch.
* Aaron Hicks walks. James Beresford to 2nd.
* Pitcher Change: Chad Robinson replaces Jake Odorizzi.
* Wang-Wei Lin hit by pitch. James Beresford to 3rd. Aaron Hicks to 2nd.
* Brian Dozier grounds into a force out, third baseman Michael Marseco to catcher Cameron Garfield. James Beresford out at home. Aaron Hicks to 3rd. Wang-Wei Lin to 2nd. Brian Dozier to 1st.
* Angel Morales grounds into a force out, third baseman Michael Marseco to second baseman Peter Fatse. Aaron Hicks scores. Wang-Wei Lin scores. Brian Dozier out at 2nd. Angel Morales to 1st.
* With Michael Gonzales batting, Angel Morales steals (9) 2nd base.
* Michael Gonzales called out on strikes.

On the face, it would seem correct that there should only be one run charged to Odorizzi since there was a force out. But, this is where one of those pesky rules in baseball comes into play. Rule 10.16 to be exact. Click that link and scroll down to the proper section. From the Official Rules of Baseball:

Rule 10.16(g) Comment: It is the intent of Rule 10.16(g) 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, such pitcher shall be charged with all runs subsequently scored up to and including the number of runners such pitcher left on base when such pitcher 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). For example:

Example #6 is the closest I could find to the situation from May 3. I have changed the Names and the details to fit the situation. Click that link up top to see the original and understand.

(6) [Odorizzi] is pitching. [Beresford] reaches first base on a [Hit Batsman]. [Hicks] reaches first on a base on balls. [Robinson] relieves [Odorizzi]. [Lin] reaches first base on a [Hit Batsman] loading the bases. [Dozier] forces [Beresford] at home plate. [Morales] forces [Dozier] at second, scoring [Hicks and Lin]. The official scorer shall charge both runs to [Odorizzi].

To answer the question, Why was Odorizzi charged with two runs? That's baseball.

Question #3.

The ERA would be about the same if there were fewer errors. Fewer errors mean fewer unearned runs. Unearned runs do not count against ERA. More errors would mean a lower ERA...if those errors lead to runs

Using the Arnett example above. Let's pretend that Rams reached on an error. One out later, Pinto still walks. Then, Lin and Hicks drive in runs with a single. Both runs against Arnett would have been unearned.

Instead of his current 8.07 ERA (26 Earned Runs x 9 / 29 Innings pitched), it would be 24 Earned runs x 9 / 29 Innings pitched = 7.45ERA

Thanks for the questions, Baseball Bob. I hope that I answered them well enough.