A's Chad Smith Given Win vs. Orioles in Rare Ruling over 'Ineffective' Jeurys Familia

Oakland Athletics reliever Chad Smith was given the first win of his career on Wednesday night after pitching two scoreless innings to close out an 8-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

And it was all thanks to an obscure rule and a scorekeeper who made the interesting decision to apply it.

Smith would have earned a save for his efforts since he entered the game in the bottom of the eighth and the A's holding a 7-4 lead.

But because reliever Jeurys Familia—who pitched the bottom of the seventh and was in the game when Oakland took the lead—had what was deemed an "ineffective" outing, giving up two runs (only one credited to him) and a passed ball while getting two outs against four hitters, the scorekeeper applied a rare rule to give Smith the win instead (h/t the Associated Press).

That rule, MLB Rule 9.17 (c) says:

"The official scorer shall not credit as the winning pitcher a relief pitcher who is ineffective in a brief appearance, when at least one succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively in helping his team maintain its lead. In such a case, the official scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher the succeeding relief pitcher who was most effective, in the judgment of the official scorer."

MLB's rulebook allows for a scorekeeper to apply those rules for an ineffective outing when a "relief pitcher pitches less than one inning and allows two or more earned runs to score (even if such runs are charged to a previous pitcher)."

Even Smith was surprised by his unusual win.

"I was told it was a save," he told reporters. "... I guess now that you say it's a win, I guess it's a win. It's great. This is why we play the game."