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An immaculate inning occurs in baseball when a pitcher strikes out all three batters he faces in one inning using the minimum possible number of pitches: nine.[1] This has happened 114 times in Major League history and has been accomplished by 104 pitchers (79 right-handed and 25 left-handed).
Major League Baseball's first immaculate inning was accomplished by John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters against the Philadelphia Quakers on June 4, 1889;[2] and the most recent by Johan Oviedo of the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 24, 2023. Use of the term "immaculate inning" first appeared in newspaper reporting after 2000.[3]
Seven pitchers have accomplished the feat more than once, including Hall-of-Famers Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, and Randy Johnson, and active pitchers Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, and Kevin Gausman. Koufax, Sale, and Scherzer are the only pitchers to achieve an immaculate inning three times. Koufax accomplished his first immaculate inning while throwing his first no-hitter, becoming the only player to do both in a single game.[4][5][6][7]
Five pitchers – Bob Gibson, Johnson, Pedro Martínez, Ryan, and Scherzer – are also members of the 3,000-strikeout club.[8] Sloppy Thurston, Ryan, Wade Miley, Thomas Pannone, Reid Detmers, and Hayden Wesneski are the only rookies to have achieved the feat.[9][10][11][12] Ryan and Gausman have struck out three batters on nine pitches in both the American League and National League.[13]
Danny Jackson is the sole player to pitch an immaculate inning in the World Series:[14] the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 1985 World Series. Jackson pitched a complete game, winning 6–1 and staving off elimination for the Kansas City Royals, who eventually won the series in seven games.
While an immaculate inning typically occurs with the bases empty, a nine-pitch, three-strikeout performance can also be accomplished by a relief pitcher who enters the game with one or more runners on base. On May 8, 2014, Brad Boxberger of the Tampa Bay Rays entered a game against the Baltimore Orioles with the bases loaded and proceeded to strike out the side with nine pitches.[15] No player has ever struck out four batters on 12 pitches in an inning, with one of those batters reaching base on an uncaught third strike.
No pitcher has thrown more than one immaculate inning in a game. Jesús Sánchez of the Florida Marlins came within one pitch of that feat on September 13, 1998. Facing the Atlanta Braves, Sánchez struck out the side in the bottom of the second inning on 10 pitches, threw an immaculate inning in the bottom of the third inning,[16] and struck out the first batter he faced in the fourth: seven consecutive strikeouts on 25 pitches.[16] Just one game has seen two pitchers throw immaculate innings: on June 15, 2022, Phil Maton and Luis Garcia of the Houston Astros struck out the same three Rangers batters in different innings.[17]
