Video: Chris Sale threw an immaculate inning — 9 pitches, 9 strikes — against the Orioles
The 95th immaculate inning in MLB history.
Chris Sale started the seventh inning slowly, by the standards to come. The Red Sox ace threw two sliders to Baltimore Orioles infielder Hanser Alberto, who fouled them off. Then, on the the third pitch of the at-bat, Sale fired a 92-mph four-seam fastball.
Swing and a miss. Strike three.
His next three pitches, to outfielder Dwight Smith Jr., were all strikes swinging, too. Sale’s seventh pitch of the inning, a 93-mph fastball, broke the pattern. It was merely a strike looking. Orioles infielder Steve Wilkerson swung and failed to connect with either of the final two fastballs, so he walked back to the dugout as Sale’s third strikeout victim of the inning.
Nine pitches. Nine strikes. The 95th immaculate inning in MLB history.
9 pitches
9 strikes
3 KsIMMACULATE pic.twitter.com/dbMalJM0W9
— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 9, 2019
According to MLB.com, only four Red Sox pitchers had accomplished the feat: Pedro Martinez (2002), Clay Buchholz (2012), Craig Kimbrel (2017), and Rick Porcello (2017). Sale joins that group after his performance on Wednesday, part of an 8-inning, 14-strikeout night for the southpaw.
Sale carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning before Joey Rickard connected for a single. He’s the third major-leaguer to throw an immaculate inning this season, along with the Brewers’ Josh Hader and the Blue Jays’ Thomas Pannone.
