Dodgers Affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Forfeits Win For Ineligible Player

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — Apparently, forfeits do happen in professional baseball.

The California League announced Friday that high Class A Rancho Cucamonga has forfeited its 9-4 win over Lake Elsinore on June 12 for the use of an ineligible player.

Rancho Cucamonga, the high Class A affiliate of the Dodgers, placed lefthander Leo Crawford on the seven-day injured list on June 6, but Crawford appeared as the starting pitcher in the game on June 12. Because his minimum period of inactivity on the injured list (seven days) had not expired, he was ineligible to have pitched.

The mistake occurred after the Dodgers did not correctly backdate Crawford’s disabled list stint to June 2. Crawford was placed back on the injured list Thursday.

California League director of operations Matt Blaney said in an email it was the league’s first forfeit in the 10 years he has worked for the league, but he could not say for certain if one had occurred prior to that.

The game will now be recorded as a 9-0 win for Lake Elsinore, the high Class A affiliate of the Padres. All individual statistics from the game will count except Lake Elsinore lefthander Aaron Leasher will not be charged with a loss and Rancho Cucamonga lefthander Connor Mitchell will not be credited with a win, according to Blaney.

The forfeit adjusts Rancho Cucamonga’s record to 40-26 and Lake Elsinore’s record to 34-32.