# List of Major League Baseball pitchers who have thrown an immaculate inning

An immaculate inning occurs in baseball when a pitcher strikes out all three batters he faces in one inning using the minimum possible number of pitches: nine. This has happened 115 times in Major League history and has been accomplished by 105 pitchers (80 right-handed and 25 left-handed).
Major League Baseball's first immaculate inning was accomplished by John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters against the Philadelphia Quakers on June 4, 1889; and the most recent by Ryan Pepiot of the Tampa Bay Rays on September 18, 2024. Use of the term "immaculate inning" first appeared in newspaper reporting after 2000.
Six pitchers have accomplished the feat more than once: Hall of Famers Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, and Nolan Ryan, and active pitchers Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, and Kevin Gausman. Koufax, Sale, and Scherzer are the only pitchers to achieve an immaculate inning three times. Koufax accomplished his first immaculate inning while throwing his first no-hitter, becoming the only player to do both in a single game.
Sloppy Thurston, Ryan, Wade Miley, Thomas Pannone, Reid Detmers, and Hayden Wesneski are the only rookies to have achieved the feat. Ryan and Gausman have struck out three batters on nine pitches in both the American League and National League. Danny Jackson is the sole pitcher to have thrown an immaculate inning in the postseason, doing so in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 1985 World Series. Jackson pitched a complete game, winning 6–1 and staving off elimination for the Kansas City Royals, who eventually won the series in seven games.
While an immaculate inning typically occurs with the bases empty, a nine-pitch, three-strikeout performance can also be accomplished by a relief pitcher who enters the game with one or more runners on base. On May 8, 2014, Brad Boxberger of the Tampa Bay Rays entered a game against the Baltimore Orioles with the bases loaded and proceeded to strike out the side with nine pitches. No player has ever struck out four batters on 12 pitches in an inning, with one of those batters reaching base on an uncaught third strike.
No pitcher has thrown more than one immaculate inning in a game. Jesús Sánchez of the Florida Marlins came within one pitch of that feat on September 13, 1998. Facing the Atlanta Braves, Sánchez struck out the side in the bottom of the second inning on 10 pitches and threw an immaculate inning in the bottom of the third inning: six consecutive strikeouts on 19 pitches. Just one game has seen two pitchers throw immaculate innings: on June 15, 2022, Phil Maton and Luis Garcia of the Houston Astros struck out the same three Texas Rangers batters in the second and seventh innings respectively.

## Frequency by decade

The frequency of immaculate innings has varied widely throughout baseball history. There were only 30 immaculate innings in the 114 Major League seasons from 1876 to 1988, but the next 30 occurred in the 21 seasons from 1989 to 2009. The pace has since picked up even more, with 55 immaculate innings in the 15 seasons from 2010 to 2024.
| Decade | Immaculate innings | Immaculate innings |
| Decade | Number | Cumulative |
| 1880s | 1 | 1 |
| 1890s | 0 | 1 |
| 1900s | 1 | 2 |
| 1910s | 1 | 3 |
| 1920s | 5 | 8 |
| 1930s | 0 | 8 |
| 1940s | 0 | 8 |
| 1950s | 3 | 11 |
| 1960s | 8 | 19 |
| 1970s | 8 | 27 |
| 1980s | 4 | 31 |
| 1990s | 15 | 46 |
| 2000s | 14 | 60 |
| 2010s | 37 | 97 |
| 2020s | 18 | 115 |

## Players

Key :
| Pitcher (X) | Name of the pitcher (number of immaculate innings they had pitched at that point, if more than one) |
| Date | Date of the game |
| Team | The pitcher's team at the time of the game |
| Opposing team | The team against whom the pitcher struck out three batters on nine pitches |
| Inning | The inning in which the pitcher struck out three batters on nine pitches |
| Batters faced (X) | The batters who were struck out (number of immaculate innings they had struck out in at that point, if more than one) |
| Box | Box score with play by play, if available |
| † | Pitcher has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame |
| ‡ | Pitcher is active |
| (d) | Immaculate inning is disputed |
MLB pitchers who have thrown an immaculate inning :
| Pitcher | Date | Team | Opposing team | Inning | Batters faced | Box |
| John Clarkson$^†$ | June 4, 1889 | Boston Beaneaters | Philadelphia Quakers | 3rd | Jim Fogarty, Sam Thompson, Sid Farrar | n/a |
| Rube Waddell$^†$ | July 1, 1902 | Philadelphia Athletics | Baltimore Orioles | 3rd | Billy Gilbert, Harry Howell, John Cronin | n/a |
| 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$^{†(d)}$ | 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 | |
| Orel Hershiser | June 16, 1998 | San Francisco Giants | Colorado Rockies | 4th | Ellis Burks (2), Vinny Castilla, Todd Helton | |
| 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$^†$ | 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, 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 | |
| Colin Holderman$^‡$ | May 4, 2023 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Tampa Bay Rays | 7th | Taylor Walls (2), Luke Raley, Christian Bethancourt (2) | |
| Johan Oviedo$^‡$ | May 24, 2023 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Texas Rangers | 4th | Josh Smith, Robbie Grossman, Jonah Heim | |
| Michael Kopech$^‡$ | July 10, 2024 | Chicago White Sox | Minnesota Twins | 9th | Brooks Lee, Matt Wallner, Max Kepler | |
| Ryan Pepiot$^‡$ | September 18, 2024 | Tampa Bay Rays | Boston Red Sox | 5th | Connor Wong, Wilyer Abreu, Triston Casas | |