August 16, 2012

Buchholz's "Immaculate Inning"

Clay Buchholz pitched a no-hitter against the Orioles on September 1, 2007, but on Thursday night in Baltimore, he did something far rarer.

He struck out the side on nine pitches.

It was only the 47th recorded instance of what is known as an "immaculate inning" - striking out three batters on three pitches each. By contrast, on Wednesday, Seattle's Felix Hernandez threw major league baseball's 278th no-hitter.

Sixth inning:
Adam Jones    curveball  77   called - strike 1
              curveball  77   swinging - strike 2
              cutter     90   called - strike 3

Matt Weiters  fastball   91   foul - strike 1
              cutter     89   swinging - strike 2
              fastball   93   called - strike 3

Chris Davis   fastball   92   foul - strike 1
              cutter     91   foul - strike 2
              splitter   86   swinging - strike 3
The only other Red Sox pitcher known to have struck out the side on nine pitches was Pedro Martinez, who did it a little over ten years ago (May 18, 2002).

5 comments:

hrstrat57 said...

Very interesting.....

allan said...

Looks like it is only the 17th instance in AL history.

Benjamin said...

King Felix's no-hitter was also the 21st perfect game (in the modern era), but who's counting. ;)

Tom DePlonty said...

Very cool, wish I'd seen it. I knew they had to be rare, no idea they were that rare.

laura k said...

Very cool, wish I'd seen it. I knew they had to be rare, no idea they were that rare.

Same here!