Major League Baseball pitchers who have struck out three batters on nine pitches
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In Major League Baseball, 40 pitchers have thrown a nine-pitch, three-strikeout half-inning,[1] throwing nothing but strikes (the feat has been performed a total of 43 times, with three pitchers having done it twice). This feat is sometimes referred to as an immaculate inning.[2]
[edit] Trivia
- The feat has been accomplished in every regulation inning: four times in the 1st, four times in the 2nd, seven times in the 3rd, five times in the 4th, once in the 5th (Cone), once in the 6th (Johnson), four times in the 7th, seven times in the 8th, and eight times in the 9th, plus once in an extra inning (the 12th, Thurston).
- Three pitchers have accomplished the feat twice: Grove, Koufax, and Ryan. Of them, Grove is the only pitcher ever to have achieved the feat twice in the same season, and Ryan is the only pitcher ever to have achieved the feat in both the National and American Leagues, as well as being the only right-handed pitcher to accomplish the feat twice. All three are members of the Hall of Fame.
- Three of the pitchers who have accomplished the feat have done so in their rookie seasons: Eller, Thurston, and Ashby.
- Four of the pitchers who have accomplished the feat are members of the 3000 strikeout club: Johnson, Ryan, Gibson, and Martinez.
- Koufax's first nine-pitch/three strikeout inning came in the first inning of his first no-hitter.
- Four of the pitchers who have accomplished the feat have also thrown perfect games (though not in the same game): Koufax, Bunning, Cone and Johnson.
- Guidry's and Wilson's immaculate innings are the only two to come in the ninth inning of a complete game. Both were shutout victories.
- Nine of the pitchers who have accomplished the feat have been elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame: Clarkson, Waddell, Vance, Grove, Bunning, Koufax, Ryan, Gibson, and Sutter.
- Thurston is the only pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the feat in extra innings.
- Grove, Ryan and Johnson are the only pitchers with 300 career wins to have accomplished the feat.
- The 24-year-and-345-day gap between Grove's half-inning and Hoeft's half-inning is the longest span without a pitcher achieving the feat; the one-day gap between Koufax's 2nd half-inning and Bruce's half-inning is the shortest span.
- 1928 was the first year in which the feat was accomplished twice (both times by Grove); 1964 was the first year in which two pitchers accomplished the feat (Koufax and Bruce); 1991 was the first year in which three pitchers accomplished the feat (Ashby, Cone, and Harnisch); 2002 was the first year in which four pitchers accomplished the feat (Isringhausen, Kim, Martínez and Lawrence)
- José Vizcaíno, Khalil Greene, Carlton Fisk, Jeff Reed, Julio Lugo and Greg Luzinski are the only men recorded to have been victims twice. Fisk's and Luzinski's second strike outs came in the same half-inning as did Vizcaíno's and Lugo's first.
- Three franchises have seen their pitchers accomplish the feat four times, more than any of the others: The Houston NL franchise, with Bruce, Harnisch, Magnante, and Backe, the Dodgers—in Brooklyn and LA—with Ragan, Vance, and Koufax twice, and the Athletics, in Philadelphia and Oakland, with Waddell, Grove twice, and Harden. The Braves and Cubs have each seen the feat performed three times.
- As of the 2009 season, the feat has been accomplished twenty-seven times in the National League, twelve times in the American league, and four times in interleague play.
- The only team to have been a victim of the Immaculate Inning twice in the same season is the Cincinnati Reds; 1991.
- Philadelphia's National League team has been a victim of an immaculate inning a record five times; once as the Quakers and four times as the Phillies. Only one Philadelphia pitcher has ever thrown an immaculate inning (Andy Ashby in a loss to the Reds in 1991).
- New York Met Tom Seaver is the only major league pitcher to strike out consecutively the last ten outs of a nine-inning baseball game (versus San Diego Padres, April, 22 1970).
[edit] Sources
- ^ Robinson, Alan. "Pujols’ Pinch HR Leaves Pirates 1 short of Record". Yahoo! Sports. September 5, 2009.
- ^ Rodriguez, John (2008-06-18). "Hernandez's immaculate inning highlights Marlins' loss". Florida Sun-Sentinel. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-marlins0618,0,5318684.story. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
