In baseball, a strikeout occurs when a pitcher throws three strikes to a batter during his time at bat.[1] An immaculate inning occurs when a pitcher strikes out all three batters he faces in one inning, using the minimum possible number of pitches (nine).[2] A total of 99 pitchers have struck out three batters on nine consecutive pitches in a half-inning of a Major League Baseball (MLB) game as of July 2022[update]. There have been 110 immaculate innings, with the most recent being Hayden Wesneski of the Chicago Cubs on September 22, 2022.
Seven have accomplished the feat more than once in their career, including Hall-of-Famers Lefty Grove,[a] Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, and Randy Johnson, and currently active pitchers Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, and Kevin Gausman. Koufax, Sale, and Scherzer are the only pitchers to achieve an immaculate inning three times. No player has ever struck out four batters on twelve pitches in an inning, with one of those batters reaching base on an uncaught third strike.[3][4][5][6] John Clarkson was the first player to strike out three batters on nine pitches, doing so in the third inning for the Boston Beaneaters against the Philadelphia Quakers on June 4, 1889.[7] Use of the term "immaculate inning" to describe the feat is relatively new to baseball, appearing in newspaper reporting after 2000.[8]
Of the 100 pitchers who have accomplished the feat, 76 have been right-handed and 24 left-handed. Five pitchers – Bob Gibson, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, Nolan Ryan, and Max Scherzer – are also members of the 3,000 strikeout club.[9] Sloppy Thurston, Ryan, Wade Miley, Thomas Pannone, Reid Detmers, and Hayden Wesneski are the only rookies to have attained the milestone.[10][11][12][13] Ryan and Gausman have struck out three batters on nine pitches in both the American League and National League.[14]
Danny Jackson is the sole player to pitch an immaculate inning in the World Series.[15] Jackson's feat came in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 1985 World Series, in which he pitched a complete game and won, 6–1, as the Kansas City Royals staved off elimination and eventually won the series in seven games.
While an immaculate inning typically occurs with the bases empty, via a pitcher retiring the side in order, the feat can also be accomplished by a relief pitcher entering the game with one or more runners on base and no outs, who then strikes out the first three batters faced on nine pitches. An example of this occurred on May 8, 2014, when Brad Boxberger of the Tampa Bay Rays entered a game against the Baltimore Orioles with the bases loaded and no outs; Boxberger struck out the next three batters he faced on nine pitches.[16]
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, then threw an immaculate inning in the bottom of the third inning.[17] In total, Sánchez struck out seven consecutive batters on 25 total pitches.[17] Phil Maton and Luis Garcia of the Houston Astros both threw immaculate innings in the same game on June 15, 2022, the first time this has occurred in history. They struck out the same three batters in the Rangers' lineup.[18]
The frequency of immaculate innings has varied widely through baseball history. There were only 31 immaculate innings in the 114 Major League seasons from 1876 to 1989, but another 31 in the 20 seasons from 1990 to 2009. The pace has since picked up even more, with 43 immaculate innings in the 12 seasons from 2010 to 2021.
| Decade | Immaculate innings | |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Cumulative | |
| 1880s | 1 | 1 |
| 1890s | 0 | 1 |
| 1900s | 1 | 2 |
| 1910s | 1 | 3 |
| 1920s | 5 | 8 |
| 1930s | 0 | 8 |
| 1940s | 0 | 8 |
| 1950s | 3 | 11 |
| 1960s | 8 | 19 |
| 1970s | 8 | 27 |
| 1980s | 4 | 31 |
| 1990s | 17 | 48 |
| 2000s | 14 | 62 |
| 2010s | 37 | 99 |
| 2020s | 12 | 111 |
Updated through Hayden Wesneski's immaculate inning of September 22, 2022.
| Pitcher (X) | Name of the pitcher (number of immaculate innings they had pitched at that point, if more than one) |
|---|---|
| Date | Date of the game |
| Team | The pitcher's team at the time of the game |
| Opposing team | The team against whom the pitcher struck out three batters on nine pitches |
| Inning | The inning in which the pitcher struck out three batters on nine pitches |
| Batters faced (X) | The batters who were struck out (number of immaculate innings they had struck out in at that point, if more than one) |
| Box | Box score with play by play, if available |
|
Pitcher has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame |
|
Pitcher is active[b] |
