- MLB Rule 9.17(b) [paraphrased]
Last night's Twins-Indians game in Cleveland presented an ideal illustration of the leeway an official scorer sometimes has when determining which lucky pitcher should be credited with a win (aka, a "dub" or a "W") for his team's victory.
The Twins, whose bats have collectively come alive of late, enjoyed an 8-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning. Kyle Gibson, the Twins' # 2 starter in their five-man rotation, seemingly had an easy path toward gaining his fourth win of the year. All he needed to do was get three more outs without giving up eight runs, and he would have the requisite five complete innings under his belt. Then, provided the Twins did not surrender the lead later, he would get the dub even if he didn't throw another pitch after the fifth.
The home half of the fifth started out quietly enough, with the Tribe's rookie Tyler Naquin grounding out to short. The next batter, Abraham Almonte, stroked a double to right, but that was quickly followed by Roberto Perez' ground out to second for the second out, advancing Almonte to third. Gibson was only one out away, and the score was still 8-0! Then the roof caved in. The next six Cleveland batters all got base hits, including two two-run homers by Carlos Santana (no, not that Carlos Santana) and Mike Napoli. Napoli's dinger was noteworthy for two reasons. TV announcer Dick Bremer, who has been broadcasting Twins games since 1983, said it may have been the longest home run he's ever seen. Also, Napoli's blast came on the third pitch immediately following Twins pitching coach Neil Allen's trip to the mound to counsel the struggling Gibson. I guess whatever ol' Neil had to say wasn't worth the trip.
Napoli's blast brought Cleveland to within three runs, 8-5. That was followed by a single and a run-scoring double. The score was now 8-6, with the tying run, Naquin, coming up to bat. Were the Twins ever going to get out of this inning?
Manager Paul Molitor usually gives his starting pitchers every opportunity to last five innings, thus qualifying them for the potential W. However, now Mollie had little choice but to pull Gibson. Gibson looked like dead man walking as he slowly ambled back to his dugout. Fifteen minutes ago he was in Fat City with an eight run lead. Now, according to team policy, he had to sit on the bench and hope that reliever Michael ("Gulf Of") Tonkin could induce the third out.
When Tonkin arrived on the mound there was a man on second. The Twins bullpen seems to have instituted a new tradition, which is for a relief pitcher to issue a walk to the very first batter he faces. Tonkin apparently is a proponent thereof, granting a free pass to Naquin, the tenth Indian to bat in the inning. Finally, to the great relief of Twins Nation, Tonkin struck out Almonte to end the carnage.
After the Twins failed to score in the top of the sixth, Molitor sent The Gulf back out to start the bottom half. Although the bullpen was well-rested due to only two relievers having been used the night before, I have no doubt Molitor's hope was that The Gulf could burn up one or two more innings. Tonkin, along with Tommy Milone, are what's called "long relievers," as opposed to set-up men or closers. Long relievers are called upon to throw a few innings per outing.
Things did not go as planned. The first man up, Perez, scorched a liner which first baseman Joe Mauer snagged. Santana walked and Jason Kipnis singled, putting runners at first and second. At this point, The Gulf had faced a total of five Indians and had retired only two of them. Francisco Lindor hit a fly ball out to right field deep enough to allow Santana to tag and go to third. It was clear that Tonkin was not fooling anybody.
Molitor stode from the dugout and signaled for pitcher Ryan ("Don't Call Me Elvis") Pressly to come in and face the Indians' mighty slugger, Napoli. This would be the At Bat Of The Game; a fast ball pitcher with upper nineties nastiness versus the guy who, last time up, hit a five hundred foot home run. On a 1-1 count, Napoli just missed squaring it up, sending a deep fly to right which Rookie Of The Year candidate Max Kepler caught to end the inning.
Pressly pitched an efficient, albeit imperfect, bottom of the seventh, surrendering only a single and getting a strikeout and two easy infield grounders. The eighth and ninth innings were harmlessly handled by Taylor Rogers and Brandon Kintzler, and the Twins won 10-6, their second road win in a row against the division-leading Indians.
As cited above, a starting pitcher must go at least five complete innings to qualify for a potential W. Since starter Gibson failed to do so, MLB Rule 9.17(b) gives the official scorer the discretion to award the W to whichever relief pitcher was most effective. Relievers Rogers and Kintzler pitched well, but were not under consideration due to both having the luxury of not coming into the game with runners on base. (In Kintzler's case, the Twins had padded their lead to 10-6 thanks to a ninth inning two run homer by Eduardo Escobar.) The choice for the dub would be between Tonkin and Pressly. Picking either would be acceptable, given the discretion afforded to the official scorer under the rules.
Tonkin faced a total of six men and retired only three. Two of those three outs (by Perez and Lindor) were well hit, and Tonkin gave up two walks. He was pulled by Mollie with two baserunners which were his responsibility for ERA purposes.
By comparison, Pressly retired four of the five men he faced, did not walk anybody and struck out one. Neither of the baserunners he inherited from Tonkin scored. He bested Napoli in that At Bat Of The Game in the sixth inning.
It had to be a fairly easy decision for the official scorer. Kudos to Tonkin for getting the Twins out of trouble in the fifth, but it was Pressly who saved the Twins' bacon in the sixth. Pressly's line score was clearly better, and his reward was a well-deserved win.
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