Immaculate Inning History

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. The strikeouts can either be of the swinging or the caught looking variety, and there can be foul balls involved. The purest form of the feat would be to have nine swings and misses. The name for the feat only came into widespread use in the 21st century. Once exceedingly rare – there were none between 1929 and 1952 – immaculate innings began to be more common starting in the 1990s and the evolution in the usage of relief pitchers that led to most such pitchers being used for one inning only. During that inning, they can throw as hard as possible, knowing they do not need to keep anything in reserve.

There have been 112 immaculate innings, with the most recent being Enyel De Los Santos of the Cleveland Guardians on September 27, 2022.

On July 9, 1972 vs the Boston Red Sox Nolan Ryan pitched his second immaculate inning with the California Angels he became the first pitcher to accomplish this unique feat once during both the American & National League, when Ryan pitched for the Mets, against the Dodgers on April 19, 1968. Kevin Gausman will become the second when he accomplished the feat for the Orioles in 2018 and the Cincinnati Reds in 2019.

Pedro Martinez was the first pitcher American league pitcher to start a game with an Immaculate inning on May 18, 2002 and Rich Harden would match him 6 years later in 2008. Three pitchers in the National League led off the game clean; the first was Sandy Koufax.

Chris Sale, Sandy Koufax and Max Scherzer are the only pitchers with three. Sale pitched two immaculate innings 27 days apart, which is the shortest time in between the feat. Lefty Grove, Ryan, Randy Johnson and Gausman, have accomplished the feat twice.

Danny Jackson threw an immaculate inning (Terry Pendleton, Tom Nieto, Brian Harper) on October 24, 1985, during the seventh frame, during Game 5 of the 1985 World Series — the first, and only only postseason immaculate inning to date.

On June 15, 2022, the Houston Astros became the first team to throw two immaculate innings in the same game against the Texas Rangers: Luis García achieved the feat in the 2nd inning, and reliever Phil Maton repeated it in the 7th. Even more remarkable, the same three batters were involved in both instances: Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Duran and Brad Miller.

Immaculate Inning

June 4, 1889

The first known immaculate inning pitched by JOHN CLARKSON

July 1, 1902

Rube Waddell debuts in historic fashion for A’s

October 5, 1914

Brooklyn Robins reliever Pat Ragan throws an immaculate inning

September 8, 1921

JOE OESCHGER pitches immaculate-innings vs the Phillies

August 22, 1923

Sloppy Thurston pitches first extra inning imaculate inning

September 14, 1924

Vance wins his 26th and pitches perfect inning

August 2, 1959

Jim Bunning, tossing a frame in relief, strikes out three batters on nine pitches

June 30, 1962

Sandy Koufax no hits the Mets 5-0

April 18, 1964

Sandy Koufax first to strike out 3 of 9 pitchers twice

April 19, 1964

Bob Bruce immaculate inning against the Cardinals

August 11, 1967

Al Downing pitches an immaculate inning

May 12, 1969

Bob Gibson becomes the seventh pitcher in National League history to strike out the side on nine pitches.

September 24, 1971

In the top of the fourth inning of a losing effort to Philadelphia, Cubs’ starter Milt Pappas strikes out the side, throwing just nine pitches. Greg Luzinski, Don Money, and Mike Anderson are the victims of the right-hander’s immaculate inning.

September 8, 1977

Cubs relief pitcher Bruce Sutter strikes out the first six batters he faces including three men in the 9th on nine pitches.

September 6, 1991

Pete Harnisch becomes the second Astro to strike out the side on nine pitches.

May 18, 2002

At Fenway Park, Pedro Martinez becomes the 11th pitcher in American League history to record an immaculate inning when he strikes out the side on nine pitches in the first frame. The Red Sox right-hander fans Ichiro Suzuki, Mark McLemore, and Ruben Sierra to begin Boston’s eventual 4-1 victory over Seattle.

April 15, 2004

Brandon Backe becomes the third pitcher in Astro history to strike out the side on nine pitches

September 5, 2009

In the seventh inning of the Pirates’ 2-1 loss to St. Louis at PNC Park, Ross Ohlendorf strikes out the side on nine pitches, becoming only the 41st pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat. The 27 year-old right-hander’s victims during his immaculate inning are Redbirds Kevin Greene, Julio Lugo, and Jason LaRue, all who are retired at first base after swinging at pitches in the dirt.

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MLB pitchers who have thrown an immaculate inning
Pitcher	Date	Team	Opposing team	Inning	Batters faced
John Clarkson	June 4, 1889	Boston Beaneaters	Philadelphia Quakers	3rd	Jim Fogarty, Sam Thompson, Sid Farrar
Rube Waddell	July 1, 1902	Philadelphia Athletics	Baltimore Orioles	3rd	Billy Gilbert, Harry Howell, John Cronin
Pat Ragan	October 5, 1914	Brooklyn Dodgers	Boston Braves	8th	Possum Whitted, Butch Schmidt, Red Smith
Joe Oeschger	September 8, 1921	Boston Braves	Philadelphia Phillies	4th	Bevo LeBourveau, Cy Williams, Ed Konetchy
Sloppy Thurston	August 22, 1923	Chicago White Sox	Philadelphia Athletics	12th	Beauty McGowan, Chick Galloway, Sammy Hale
Dazzy Vance	September 14, 1924	Brooklyn Robins	Cincinnati Reds	3rd	Sam Bohne, Bubbles Hargrave, Eppa Rixey
Lefty Grove	August 23, 1928	Philadelphia Athletics	Cleveland Indians	2nd	Ed Morgan, Luther Harvel, Martin Autry
Lefty Grove (2)	September 27, 1928	Philadelphia Athletics	Chicago White Sox	7th	Moe Berg, Tommy Thomas, Johnny Mostil
Billy Hoeft	September 7, 1953	Detroit Tigers	Chicago White Sox	7th	Jim Rivera, Mike Fornieles, Chico Carrasquel
Robin Roberts	April 17, 1956	Philadelphia Phillies	Brooklyn Dodgers	6th	Carl Furillo, Charlie Neal, Sandy Amorós
Jim Bunning	August 2, 1959	Detroit Tigers	Boston Red Sox	9th	Sammy White, Jim Mahoney, Ike Delock
Sandy Koufax	June 30, 1962	Los Angeles Dodgers	New York Mets	1st	Richie Ashburn, Rod Kanehl, Félix Mantilla
Sandy Koufax (2)	April 19, 1963	Los Angeles Dodgers	Houston Colt .45s	5th	Bob Aspromonte, Jim Campbell, Turk Farrell
Tony Cloninger	June 15, 1963	Milwaukee Braves	Philadelphia Phillies	8th	Tony González, Clay Dalrymple, Rubén Amaro
Sandy Koufax (3)	April 18, 1964	Los Angeles Dodgers	Cincinnati Reds	3rd	Leo Cárdenas, Johnny Edwards, Jim Maloney
Bob Bruce	April 19, 1964	Houston Colt .45s	St. Louis Cardinals	8th	Bill White, Charlie James, Ken Boyer
Al Downing	August 11, 1967	New York Yankees	Cleveland Indians	2nd	Tony Horton, Don Demeter, Duke Sims
Nolan Ryan	April 19, 1968	New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers	3rd	Claude Osteen, Wes Parker, Zoilo Versalles
Bob Gibson	May 12, 1969	St. Louis Cardinals	Los Angeles Dodgers	7th	Len Gabrielson, Paul Popovich, John Miller
Bill Wilson	July 6, 1971	Philadelphia Phillies	Atlanta Braves	8th	Darrell Evans, Hal King, Earl Williams
John Strohmayer	July 10, 1971	Montreal Expos	Philadelphia Phillies	5th	Mike Ryan, Woodie Fryman, Denny Doyle
Milt Pappas	September 24, 1971	Chicago Cubs	Philadelphia Phillies	4th	Greg Luzinski, Don Money, Mike Anderson
Nolan Ryan (2)	July 9, 1972	California Angels	Boston Red Sox	2nd	Carlton Fisk, Bob Burda, Juan Beníquez
Bruce Sutter	September 8, 1977	Chicago Cubs	Montreal Expos	9th	Ellis Valentine, Gary Carter, Larry Parrish
Pedro Borbón	June 23, 1979	Cincinnati Reds	San Francisco Giants	9th	Mike Sadek, Gary Lavelle, Billy North
Lynn McGlothen	August 25, 1979	Chicago Cubs	San Francisco Giants	3rd	Larry Herndon, Joe Strain, Jack Clark
Joey McLaughlin	September 11, 1979	Atlanta Braves	San Francisco Giants	7th	Larry Herndon (2), Greg Johnston, Johnnie LeMaster
Ron Guidry	August 7, 1984	New York Yankees	Chicago White Sox	9th	Carlton Fisk (2), Tom Paciorek, Greg Luzinski (2)
Danny Jackson	October 24, 1985	Kansas City Royals	St. Louis Cardinals	7th	Terry Pendleton, Tom Nieto, Brian Harper
Jeff Robinson	September 7, 1987	Pittsburgh Pirates	Chicago Cubs	8th	Leon Durham, Andre Dawson, Rafael Palmeiro
Rob Dibble	June 4, 1989	Cincinnati Reds	San Diego Padres	8th	Carmelo Martínez, Mark Parent, Garry Templeton
Jeff Montgomery	April 29, 1990	Kansas City Royals	Texas Rangers	8th	Pete Incaviglia, Geno Petralli, Thad Bosley
Andy Ashby	June 15, 1991	Philadelphia Phillies	Cincinnati Reds	4th	Hal Morris, Todd Benzinger, Jeff Reed
David Cone	August 30, 1991	New York Mets	Cincinnati Reds	5th	Herm Winningham, Randy Myers, Mariano Duncan
Pete Harnisch	September 6, 1991	Houston Astros	Philadelphia Phillies	7th	Wes Chamberlain, Dickie Thon, José DeJesús
Trevor Wilson	June 7, 1992	San Francisco Giants	Houston Astros	9th	Jeff Bagwell, Eric Anthony, Rafael Ramírez
Mel Rojas	May 11, 1994	Montreal Expos	New York Mets	9th	David Segui, Todd Hundley, Jeff McKnight
Stan Belinda	August 6, 1994	Kansas City Royals	Seattle Mariners	9th	Eric Anthony (2), Chris Howard, Luis Sojo
Todd Worrell	August 13, 1995	Los Angeles Dodgers	Pittsburgh Pirates	9th	Mark Johnson, Angelo Encarnación, Steve Pegues
Mike Magnante	August 22, 1997	Houston Astros	Colorado Rockies	9th	Ellis Burks, Harvey Pulliam, Jeff Reed (2)
Doug Jones	September 23, 1997	Milwaukee Brewers	Kansas City Royals	9th	Johnny Damon, Scott Cooper, Rod Myers
Jimmy Key	April 14, 1998	Baltimore Orioles	Chicago White Sox	2nd	Robin Ventura, Magglio Ordóñez, Ray Durham
Mike Mussina	May 9, 1998	Baltimore Orioles	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	9th	Fred McGriff, Paul Sorrento, Rich Butler
Orel Hershiser	June 16, 1998	San Francisco Giants	Colorado Rockies	4th	Ellis Burks (2), Vinny Castilla, Todd Helton
Randy Johnson	September 2, 1998	Houston Astros	Atlanta Braves	6th	Javy López, Andruw Jones, Greg Colbrunn
Jesús Sánchez	September 13, 1998	Florida Marlins	Atlanta Braves	3rd	Tony Graffanino, Greg Maddux, Walt Weiss
Shane Reynolds	July 15, 1999	Houston Astros	Detroit Tigers	1st	Juan Encarnación, Brad Ausmus, Bobby Higginson
B. J. Ryan	September 5, 1999	Baltimore Orioles	Cleveland Indians	6th	Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Richie Sexson
Randy Johnson (2)	August 23, 2001	Arizona Diamondbacks	Pittsburgh Pirates	6th	Tony McKnight, Gary Matthews Jr., Jack Wilson
Jason Isringhausen	April 13, 2002	St. Louis Cardinals	Houston Astros	9th	Daryle Ward, José Vizcaíno, Julio Lugo
Byung-Hyun Kim	May 11, 2002	Arizona Diamondbacks	Philadelphia Phillies	8th	Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal, Pat Burrell
Pedro Martínez	May 18, 2002	Boston Red Sox	Seattle Mariners	1st	Ichiro Suzuki, Mark McLemore, Rubén Sierra
Brian Lawrence	June 12, 2002	San Diego Padres	Baltimore Orioles	3rd	Brook Fordyce, Jerry Hairston Jr., Melvin Mora
Brandon Backe	April 15, 2004	Houston Astros	Milwaukee Brewers	8th	Bill Hall, Scott Podsednik, Craig Counsell
Ben Sheets	June 13, 2004	Milwaukee Brewers	Houston Astros	3rd	Pete Munro, Craig Biggio, José Vizcaíno (2)
LaTroy Hawkins	September 11, 2004	Chicago Cubs	Florida Marlins	9th	Jeff Conine, Juan Encarnación (2), Álex González
Rick Helling	June 20, 2006	Milwaukee Brewers	Detroit Tigers	1st	Curtis Granderson, Plácido Polanco, Iván Rodríguez
Buddy Carlyle	July 6, 2007	Atlanta Braves	San Diego Padres	4th	Khalil Greene, Russell Branyan, José Cruz Jr.
Rich Harden	June 8, 2008	Oakland Athletics	Los Angeles Angels	1st	Maicer Izturis, Howie Kendrick, Garret Anderson
Félix Hernández	June 17, 2008	Seattle Mariners	Florida Marlins	4th	Jeremy Hermida, Jorge Cantú, Mike Jacobs
A. J. Burnett	June 20, 2009	New York Yankees	Florida Marlins	3rd	Josh Johnson, Chris Coghlan, Emilio Bonifacio
Ross Ohlendorf	September 5, 2009	Pittsburgh Pirates	St. Louis Cardinals	7th	Khalil Greene (2), Julio Lugo (2), Jason LaRue
Rafael Soriano	August 23, 2010	Tampa Bay Rays	Los Angeles Angels	9th	Erick Aybar, Mike Napoli, Peter Bourjos
Jordan Zimmermann	May 6, 2011	Washington Nationals	Florida Marlins	2nd	Giancarlo Stanton, Greg Dobbs, John Buck
Juan Pérez	July 8, 2011	Philadelphia Phillies	Atlanta Braves	10th	Jason Heyward, Nate McLouth, Wilkin Ramírez
Clay Buchholz	August 16, 2012	Boston Red Sox	Baltimore Orioles	6th	Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Chris Davis
Wade Miley	October 1, 2012	Arizona Diamondbacks	Colorado Rockies	3rd	Jonathan Herrera, Drew Pomeranz, Josh Rutledge
Iván Nova	May 29, 2013	New York Yankees	New York Mets	8th	Ike Davis, Mike Baxter, Rubén Tejada
Steve Delabar	July 30, 2013	Toronto Blue Jays	Oakland Athletics	8th	Adam Rosales, Coco Crisp, Chris Young
Brad Boxberger	May 8, 2014	Tampa Bay Rays	Baltimore Orioles	6th	Steve Pearce, Jonathan Schoop, Caleb Joseph
Cole Hamels	May 17, 2014	Philadelphia Phillies	Cincinnati Reds	3rd	Zack Cozart, Brandon Phillips, Todd Frazier
Justin Masterson	June 2, 2014	Cleveland Indians	Boston Red Sox	4th	Jonny Gomes, Grady Sizemore, Stephen Drew
Garrett Richards	June 4, 2014	Los Angeles Angels	Houston Astros	2nd	Jon Singleton, Matt Dominguez, Chris Carter
Rex Brothers	June 14, 2014	Colorado Rockies	San Francisco Giants	8th	Michael Morse, Brandon Crawford, Gregor Blanco
Carlos Contreras	July 11, 2014	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	7th	Jordy Mercer, Jeff Locke, Gregory Polanco
Brandon McCarthy	September 17, 2014	New York Yankees	Tampa Bay Rays	7th	Wil Myers, Nick Franklin, Matt Joyce
Mike Fiers	May 7, 2015	Milwaukee Brewers	Los Angeles Dodgers	4th	Enrique Hernández, Carlos Frías, Joc Pederson
Santiago Casilla	May 17, 2015	San Francisco Giants	Cincinnati Reds	9th	Marlon Byrd, Brandon Phillips (2), Jay Bruce
Juan Nicasio	July 4, 2016	Pittsburgh Pirates	St. Louis Cardinals	8th	Stephen Piscotty, Jhonny Peralta (2), Yadier Molina
Drew Storen	April 18, 2017	Cincinnati Reds	Baltimore Orioles	9th	Jonathan Schoop (2), J. J. Hardy, Hyun-soo Kim
Craig Kimbrel	May 11, 2017	Boston Red Sox	Milwaukee Brewers	9th	Hernán Pérez, Travis Shaw, Domingo Santana
Max Scherzer	May 14, 2017	Washington Nationals	Philadelphia Phillies	5th	César Hernández, Odúbel Herrera, Aaron Altherr
Kenley Jansen	May 18, 2017	Los Angeles Dodgers	Miami Marlins	9th	Derek Dietrich, J. T. Riddle, Ichiro Suzuki (2)
Carlos Carrasco	July 7, 2017	Cleveland Indians	Detroit Tigers	5th	Nicholas Castellanos, Mikie Mahtook, José Iglesias
Dellin Betances	August 2, 2017	New York Yankees	Detroit Tigers	8th	Jim Adduci, Justin Upton, Miguel Cabrera
José Alvarado	August 4, 2017	Tampa Bay Rays	Milwaukee Brewers	9th	Travis Shaw (2), Jesús Aguilar, Hernán Pérez (2)
Rick Porcello	August 9, 2017	Boston Red Sox	Tampa Bay Rays	5th	Trevor Plouffe, Wilson Ramos, Mallex Smith
Kevin Gausman	April 23, 2018	Baltimore Orioles	Cleveland Indians	7th	Yonder Alonso, Yan Gomes, Bradley Zimmer
Max Scherzer (2)	June 5, 2018	Washington Nationals	Tampa Bay Rays	6th	Johnny Field, Christian Arroyo, Daniel Robertson
Germán Márquez	August 8, 2018	Colorado Rockies	Pittsburgh Pirates	4th	Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco (2)
Zac Rosscup	August 19, 2018	Los Angeles Dodgers	Seattle Mariners	9th	Kyle Seager, Ryon Healy, Cameron Maybin
Josh Hader	March 30, 2019	Milwaukee Brewers	St. Louis Cardinals	9th	Tyler O’Neill, Dexter Fowler, Yairo Muñoz
Thomas Pannone	April 14, 2019	Toronto Blue Jays	Tampa Bay Rays	5th	Avisaíl García, Brandon Lowe, Daniel Robertson (2)
Chris Sale	May 8, 2019	Boston Red Sox	Baltimore Orioles	7th	Hanser Alberto, Dwight Smith Jr., Steve Wilkerson
Chris Sale (2)	June 5, 2019	Boston Red Sox	Kansas City Royals	8th	Kelvin Gutiérrez, Nicky Lopez, Martin Maldonado
Stephen Strasburg	July 3, 2019	Washington Nationals	Miami Marlins	4th	Garrett Cooper, Neil Walker, Starlin Castro
Kevin Gausman (2)	August 18, 2019	Cincinnati Reds	St. Louis Cardinals	9th	Yairo Muñoz (2), Dexter Fowler (2), Tommy Edman
Chris Martin	September 11, 2019	Atlanta Braves	Philadelphia Phillies	7th	César Hernández (2), Jay Bruce (2), Logan Morrison
Will Harris	September 27, 2019	Houston Astros	Los Angeles Angels	8th	Kaleb Cowart, Matt Thaiss, Michael Hermosillo
Zach Plesac	September 18, 2020	Cleveland Indians	Detroit Tigers	2nd	Jorge Bonifacio, Niko Goodrum, Austin Romine
Kyle Finnegan	May 5, 2021	Washington Nationals	Atlanta Braves	6th	Austin Riley, Dansby Swanson, William Contreras
Michael King	June 4, 2021	New York Yankees	Boston Red Sox	4th	Hunter Renfroe, Marwin Gonzalez, Christian Vázquez
Chad Green	July 4, 2021	New York Yankees	New York Mets	7th	Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, Jonathan Villar
Chris Sale (3)	August 26, 2021	Boston Red Sox	Minnesota Twins	3rd	Nick Gordon, Andrelton Simmons, Rob Refsnyder
Max Scherzer (3)	September 12, 2021	Los Angeles Dodgers	San Diego Padres	2nd	Fernando Tatís Jr., Eric Hosmer, Tommy Pham
Nestor Cortes Jr.	April 17, 2022	New York Yankees	Baltimore Orioles	4th	Robinson Chirinos, Chris Owings, Kelvin Gutiérrez (2)
Luis García	June 15, 2022	Houston Astros	Texas Rangers	2nd	Nathaniel Lowe (2), Ezequiel Durán (2), Brad Miller (2)
Phil Maton	June 15, 2022	Houston Astros	Texas Rangers	7th	Nathaniel Lowe (2), Ezequiel Durán (2), Brad Miller (2)
Reid Detmers	July 31, 2022	Los Angeles Angels	Texas Rangers	2nd	Ezequiel Durán (3), Kole Calhoun, Charlie Culberson
Ryan Helsley	September 16, 2022	St. Louis Cardinals	Cincinnati Reds	9th	Kyle Farmer, Jake Fraley, Donovan Solano
Hayden Wesneski	September 22, 2022	Chicago Cubs	Pittsburgh Pirates	5th	Jack Suwinski, Zack Collins, Jason Delay
Enyel De Los Santos	September 27, 2022	Cleveland Guardians	Tampa Bay Rays	7th	Christian Bethancourt, Jose Siri, Taylor Walls