Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
List of Major League Baseball pitchers who have thrown an immaculate inning
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
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 117 times in Major League Baseball history; 109 pitchers have accomplished the feat.
_(cropped).jpg)
Sandy Koufax, Chris Sale, and Max Scherzer are the only pitchers to achieve an immaculate inning three times.
The feat was first performed by John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters against the Philadelphia Quakers on June 4, 1889;[2] and most recently by Mason Miller of the San Diego Padres on September 3, 2025. The term "immaculate inning" first appeared in newspapers after 2000.[3]
Five pitchers have accomplished the feat more than once: Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan, and active pitchers Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, and Kevin Gausman. Only Koufax, Sale, and Scherzer have completed it three times apiece. Only Ryan and Gausman have done it in both the American League and National League.[4] Sale threw two immaculate innings in the same season, doing so in 2019 on May 8th and then on June 5th, just 28 days later. In addition to being the only pitcher to throw an immaculate inning in three consecutive seasons, on June 30, 1962, Koufax also accomplished his first immaculate inning while throwing his first no-hitter, the only player to do both in a single game.[5][6][7][8]
Sloppy Thurston, Ryan, Wade Miley, Thomas Pannone, Reid Detmers, Hayden Wesneski, and Brandon Young are the only rookies to have achieved the feat.[9][10][11][12] Danny Jackson is the sole pitcher to have thrown an immaculate inning in the postseason, doing so in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 1985 World Series.[13] 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.[14] 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 and threw an immaculate inning in the bottom of the third inning:[15] six consecutive strikeouts on 19 pitches.[15] 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 Texas Rangers batters (Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Durán, and Brad Miller) in the second and seventh innings respectively.[16] Just 6 weeks later, Durán was also the first strikeout victim of the very next immaculate inning pitched by Reid Detmers on July 31, 2022, making him the only hitter to be on the opposing end of an immaculate inning three times, and in 3 consecutive immaculate innings, No. 104, 105, and 106. The Texas Rangers became just the second team to be on the receiving end of 3 consecutive immaculate innings, the first being the San Francisco Giants back in 1979.
There have been only 4 instances where a team threw an immaculate inning, they were on the receiving end of the very next immaculate inning. The first time was when Bill Wilson, of the Philadelphia Phillies threw an immaculate inning against the Atlanta Braves on July 6, 1971. Just 4 days later, on July 10, 1971, John Strohmayer, of the Montreal Expos threw an immaculate inning against the Philadelphia Phillies. The most recent time saw Jose Alvarado, of the Tampa Bay Rays do it on August 4, 2017 versus the Milwaukee Brewers. Only 5 days later, on August 9, 2017, Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello would throw an immaculate inning against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Houston Astros are the only team to have this happen twice, in 1991 and 2004, but the latter was unique in that it only involved two teams, as opposed to three teams in the other 3 instances. On April 15, 2004, Houston Astros pitcher Brandon Backe threw an immaculate inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. Less than 2 months later, on June 13, 2004, Ben Sheets, of the Milwaukee Brewers would throw the next immaculate inning against the same team that just threw one against his Brewers, the Houston Astros.
As of the current 2025 season, the Rangers and the Minnesota Twins are the only teams to never have thrown at least one immaculate inning in their history.
Remove ads
Frequency by decade
Summarize
Perspective
The frequency of immaculate innings has varied widely throughout baseball history. There were only 30 immaculate innings in the 114 Major League seasons from 1876 to 1988, an average of only 0.26 per season (or about 1 every 4 seasons), but the next 30 occurred in the 21 seasons from 1989 to 2009, an average of 1.43 per season. The pace has since picked up even more, with 57 immaculate innings in the 16 seasons from 2010 to 2025, a staggering average of 3.56 per season.
An alternate perspective shows that the first 39 immaculate innings took place between 1876 and 1996, 121 seasons, for an average of 0.32 per season (or about 1 every 3 seasons). The second 39 immaculate innings were thrown between 1997 and 2016, 20 seasons, for an average of 1.95 per season (or nearly 6 every 3 seasons). The most recent 39 immaculate innings occurred between 2017 and 2025, 9 seasons, for an average of 4.33 per season (or about 13 every 3 seasons). It took over 12 decades to reach 39 immaculate innings, then 2 decades for the next 39, and the most recent 39 took only 9 seasons. The 2025 season is the 150th season since the National League began keeping statistics.
Remove ads
Players
Summarize
Perspective
Remove ads
See also
Notes
- A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played professionally for a full season.
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads