Phillies news and rumors 6/29: Ranger Suárez’s ERA drops without him even pitching

Ranger Suárez benefited from a scoring change announced Friday. (Grace Del Pizzo/Phillies Nation)

Ranger Suárez’s 2024 season has been so dominant that his ERA drops without him even throwing.

An MLB scoring change, announced Friday, from Suárez’s last start has shaved two earned runs off his season total and accordingly reduced his ERA from 2.01 to 1.83. (The latter leads MLB, and the former would’ve as well.)

The play in question: a two-on, no-out grounder from Ryan Kreidler, originally scored a base hit but changed to an error on Trea Turner. Four runs would eventually score in the inning, and now, half of those are unearned.

The guess here is that the play was originally called a hit because the scorer thought Turner still wouldn’t have been able to get Kreidler at first. Even if that’s true (and it may not be), Turner still would’ve had a chance — a pretty good chance, at that — to get Justyn-Henry Malloy at third on the force. The new ruling reflects that: It’s a fielder’s choice, with an out assumed at third base had Turner come up with it cleanly.

There have been more than a few questionable obvious-misplays-ruled-hits across MLB the past couple seasons, correlated (whether coincidentally or not) with the league’s initiative to increase offense. More hits, simply, means higher batting averages, higher ERAs, etc. — and better marketing of the game’s offense.

The Turner play fell into that category for a few days. MLB changed it — and Suárez’s chances at the National League Cy Young Award reaped the rewards.

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