Royals reliever achieved a rare and unusual MLB statistical feat during win Tuesday
There are a limited number of statistical achievements a pitcher can receive in a game from the official scorer.
That includes a win, a loss, a save, a blown save and a hold.
If you’ve ever looked at a box score, you’ll usually see a hold being awarded to a pitcher who entered a game after a teammate who got the win. But that wasn’t the case Tuesday in the Royals’ 6-3 win over the Mariners in Seattle.
That portion of the box score listed, in order, Angel Zerpa earning a hold, Lucas Erceg earning the win and then Steven Cruz also receiving a hold after Erceg.
The oddity: Angel Zerpa was given a hold even though he entered the game before Lucas Erceg, who was named the winning pitcher.
I asked the person who runs the excellent MLB Scoring Changes X account if this was an unusual situation. Short answer: Yes.
“It can happen but it’s only in a specific situation where the first pitcher leaves before 5 innings and his team has the lead and his team never loses the lead,” wrote the person, who asked to remain anonymous. “The second pitcher must be eligible for the win. ... That would allow the third pitcher to inherit a save situation and pass it on to the next pitcher.
“So it’s pretty rare … probably happens 3-5 times a season (and more than a few years ago).”
The Major League Baseball website said the hold stat was the brainchild of John Dewan and Mike O’Donnell in the late 1980s; they wanted to assess the value of relief pitchers who aren’t closers.
In the case of the Royals pitchers on Tuesday, starter Michael Lorenzen didn’t last five innings, which is required of a starting pitcher to get a win. John Schreiber took over and got the last out of the fifth inning and the first out of the sixth.
After allowing two base runners, Schreiber was pulled for Zerpa, who induced an inning-ending double play in a 5-3 game. But in the seventh, Zerpa walked two batters and Erceg came on. He got all three outs and was given the win.
Here is more from Scoring Changes: “To earn a hold, you have to inherit a save situation, record an out, and pass the save situation on to the next pitcher.
“So since Schreiber technically could have been the winning pitcher, that means the pitcher after him (Zerpa) is eligible for a save. He passed that on to Erceg and the save situation went from pitcher to pitcher.
“So, since the scorer determines the win as the most effective pitcher, with a preference to pitching at least an inning unless the scorer feels the that a pitcher with fewer than 1.0 IP recorded a key out, that was Erceg. But that doesn’t diminish the technical save opportunity originally in Zerpa’s appearance.”
And that’s how Zerpa was credited with holding down a win before handing the ball to the eventual winning pitcher. It’s certainly not something you see very often in a box score.
This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 8:34 AM.
