Nationals’ reliever set record by letting four inherited runners score

By Andrew C. Sharp

On May 10, 2008, at Nationals Park, a scoring quirk let Nationals’ reliever Joel Hanrahan do what no other pitcher in the history of the American and National leagues has ever done: He was charged with allowing four inherited runners to score.

Canadian baseball writer Gary Belleville, who uncovered this unheralded record, wrote a detailed account of Hanrahan’s dubious but historic performance for SABR’s Games Project in December 2023. Amazingly, Belleville found no published account of the game that mentioned the relief pitcher having allowed four runners to score that were deemed inherited. All four, of course, were charged to Nats’ starter Mike O’Connor.

It’s certainly a disaster for a team -- and a starting pitcher -- when a reliever comes in with the bases loaded and lets the three base-runners score. But a starter charged with four earned runs after he’s lifted from the game? Hanrahan proved it could happen, thanks to rule 9.16(h).

The box score from the Associated Press, used in hundreds of newspapers, inexplicably listed “Inherited runners: Hanrahan 3-4.” Retrosheet’s box score has Hanrahan allowing three inherited runner to score, although Baseball-Reference does say he allowed all four to score.

Nationals Park was the scene of a quirky event in 2008.Photo byDan Schlossberg

Already leading 3-0, the Marlins knocked out O’Connor in the fourth. The inning began with a home run by Wes Helms and a double by Matt Treanor. After Marlins starter Andrew Miller sacrificed Treanor to third, Cody Ross walked and Jeremy Hermida drove in a run with a single. O’Connor walked Ramírez on four pitches to load the bases. With Florida up 5-0, O’Connor threw two balls to Jorge Cantu before Washington manager Manny Acta headed to the mound. Hanrahan was called in to try to limit the damage. It was not to be.

In his second season with the Nationals, Hanrahan continued to have control problems. He came into the game having walked 19 batters in 20 innings. His earned run average was just under 5.00.

Hanrahan immediately threw a wild pitch to Cantu. Ross came home to make it 6-0 with the first inherited run charged to O’Connor. After throwing a strike, Hanrahan walked Cantu to re-load the bases. The next batter, Dan Uggla, drove the first pitch he saw into the Marlins bullpen in left field for a grand slam, putting the Marlins up, 10-0, and putting O’Connor on the hook for three more runs. Hanrahan retired the next two batters.

How it happen was because rule 9.16(h) states that a “relief pitcher shall not be held accountable when the first batter to whom he pitches reaches first base on four called balls, if such batter has a decided advantage in the ball and strike count when pitchers are changed. Because Cantu had a 2-0 count when Hanrahan entered the game, his walk was charged to O’Connor – creating a fourth inherited base-runner.

Ultimately, O’Connor was charged with nine earned runs in 3⅓ innings. His earned run average jumped from 6.35 to 13.00. After the next day’s game, he was demoted to Triple A and never appeared in another game for Washington.

The Marlins ended up winning, 11-0, Florida’s sixth straight victory. The shutout was one of a franchise-record 21 times the Nationals were blanked in 2008.

Later in 2008, Hanrahan had some brief success as the Nats’ closer after Jon Rauch was sent to Arizona near the trade deadline. The 26-year-old righty saved nine games in 12 chances for a Washington team that won just 59 games that season. But Hanrahan struggled again in 2009.

Traded to Pittsburgh in June 2009, Hanrahan showed immediate improvement. He became the Pirates’ closer in 2011, a role in which he flourished. Hanrahan set a two-season Pittsburgh record with 76 saves in 2011-12. He made back-to-back All-Star teams before sustaining a career-ending arm injury.

In his two-plus seasons in Washington, Hanrahan had allowed a whopping 47 percent of inherited runners to score. But in his two seasons as the Pirates’ closer, just 9 percent of the runners he inherited scored.

Andrew C. Sharp is a retired journalist and a SABR member who lives in New Jersey and blogs about D.C. baseball at washingtonbaseballhistory.com