On April 14, Tom Pannone of the Blue Jays tossed an “immaculate inning” – a frame comprised of three strikeouts on just nine pitches. It was the second such inning this season. Josh Hader of the Brewers three a matching frame on March 30.
Let’s look at the two performances and some immaculate inning tidbits. Pannone threw his immaculate inning against the Rays (in Toronto). It came in the top of the fifth inning, the first frame of a three-inning relief stint by the 6′, 200-lb. southpaw. The lefty’s victims were: RF Avasial Garcia (swinging); 2B Brandon Lowe (looking); and 3B Daniel Robertson (looking). Pannone pitched three hitless, scoreless innings (no walks, four strikeouts) in the game, which the Blue Jays lost 8-4.
Hader threw his (March 30) immaculate inning to close out a Brewers 4-2 win over the Cardinals. The southpaw reliever threw nothing but fastballs and – even though they pretty much knew what was coming – the Cardinals managed to touch just one. The inning consisted of a foul tip by Cardinals’ CF Tyler O’Neill on Hader’s first offering, followed by eight swing-and-misses. Hader’s next two victims were RF Dexter Fowler and PH Yairo Munoz.
Now, in today’s hard-throwing/free-swinging brand of baseball, immaculate innings are no longer an exceptionally rare feat. Since the 1880’s, we’ve seen 94 immaculate frames (tossed by 88 different pitchers). What is telling is that nearly one-third of those immaculate innings (31 out of the 94) have taken place since 2019.
How about just a few more Immaculate Inning factoids?
Immaculate Innings – What’s that?
Only two teams have never recorded an immaculate inning, and both can trace their roots back to Washington D.C. The Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins and the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers. The Dodgers lead MLB in immaculate innings with eight.
The Third Time’s the Charm.
While “Immaculate Innings” are indeed becoming less rare, multiple Immaculate Innings remain pretty unique. Only five MLB pitchers have recorded two (or more) immaculate innings in a career.
On April 18, 1964, Sandy Koufax became the first (and still only) MLB pitcher to throw three immaculate innings in his career. Koufax’ third nine-strike, three-strikeout inning came in the third inning of a 3-0 loss to the Reds (April 18, 1964) (in LA) and his victims were the 7-8-9 hitters: SS Leo Cardenas, C Johnny Edwards and P Jim Maloney. Koufax gave up three runs on three hits and three walks (and six strikeouts) in that game.
That third immaculate inning came almost a year-to-date after his second such inning. It happened on April 19, 1963 – when he fanned Houston Colt .45’s 3B Bob Aspromonte, C Jim Campbell and P Turk Farrell (yes, the 7-8-9 hitters again) in the fifth inning of a 2-0 home win over Houston. In that contest, Koufax went the distance in a two-hit, two-walk, 14-strikeout victory. The southpaw’s first immaculate inning came on June 30, 1962. That time, he worked the top, rather than the bottom, of the order. It came in the first inning of a 5-0 no-hit victory over the Mets (in LA) and the victims were LF Richie Ashburn, 3B Rod Kanehl and 2B Felix Mantilla. Koufax walked five and struck out 13 in what was the first of four career no-hitters.
The other four pitchers to have tossed multiple (two each) immaculate innings are: Lefty Grove – who did it for the Athletics; Nolan Ryan – Mets and Angels; Randy Johnson – Astros (NL) and Diamondbacks; and Max Scherzer – Nationals.
Nolan Ryan is the only pitcher to throw an immaculate inning in both the AL and NL.
Immaculate on the Big Stage.
The only pitcher to throw a nine-pitch, three-strikeout inning in the World Series is the Royals’ Danny Jackson. On October 24, 1985, Jackson started Game Five of the Series against the Cardinals. He threw a complete-game, five-hitter in beating the Redbirds 6-1. He walked three and struck out five, including 3B Terry Pendelton, C Tom Nieto and PH Brian Harper on nine pitches in the seventh inning. Jackson had gone 14-12, 3.42 in the regular season He had taken the loss in Game One of the Series, despite giving up only two runs (four hits, two walks, seven strikeouts) in seven innings. His Game-Five win pulled the Royals to 3-2. They eventually won the series four games to three.
Just Give Me a Little More time and I can Do it.
There have been only two immaculate innings tossed in extra inning.
Sloppy Thurston for the White Sox, August 22, 1923 … Thurston, who came on in the 11th inning, threw an immaculate 12th before giving up a run in the 13th and taking the loss in a 3-2 Athletics victory.
Juan Perez, Phillies, July 8, 2011 … Perez came on (against the Braves) in the top of the tenth of a 2-2 game and fanned the side. The Phillies scored on a Raul Ibanez’ HR in the bottom of the inning to give Perez the win.
Nine pitches and Done for the Day.
Here’s a list of pitchers who have thrown an immaculate inning while facing only three batters in a game – in the ninth inning unless otherwise noted:
Jim Bunning, Tigers … August 2, 1959
Doug Jones, Brewers … September 23, 1977
Pedro Borbon, Reds … June 23, 1979
Jeff Montgomery, Royals … April 29, 1990
Stan Belinda, Royals … August 6, 1994
Todd Worrell, Dodgers … August 13, 1995
Ugueth Urbina, Expos … April 4, 2000
Jason Isringhausen, Cardinals …. April 13, 2002
Rafael Soriano, Rays … August 23, 2010
Juan Perez, Phillies, 10th inning … July 8, 2011
Steve Delabar, Blue Jays, 8th inning … July 30, 2013
Rex Brothers, Rockies, 8th inning… June 14, 2014
Sergio Casilla, Giants … May 7, 2015
Drew Storen, Reds … April 18, 2017
Zac Rosscup, Dodgers … August 19, 2018
Josh Hader, Brewers … March 30, 2019
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com
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