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I need some clarification on earned/unearned runs.
Say first two batters get on on errors. Batter 3 walks Batter 4 gets a hit. Batter 5 gets a hit. so by now 4 runs have scored and batter 6, 7 &8 are retured with no further runs scoring. Are 2 runs earned or are all 4 earned?

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it.--Frederic Bastiat

Original Post
In your hypothetical, 5's hit was good enough to drive in even the # 4 guy. So there would be 2 earned runs in that inning.

What you do as a scorekeeper is reconstruct the inning in your mind as if no errors were made. And the rules specify that when in doubt, you give credit to the pitcher, i.e., questionable issues are resolved as unearned runs.

In your scenario, reconstructing would yield this:

1. Should've been out # 1

2. Should've been out # 2

3. Walked

4. Hit; now 2 on, 2 out

5. Hit that's good enough to plate 3 and 4 with 2 outs.

6. Final out. Anything that would score on his out, or that would happen in subsequent batters, would be unearned to the defensive team.

Note, however, that if you change pitchers after the initial errors, you can have situations where the run is considered earned to the reliever but not to the team. The relief pitcher individually does not get the benefit of the earlier errors. This can be a problem for those who use automated software, as it often will not permit you to have more earned runs for the pitchers than you show in your total for their team.

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