Throwing an immaculate inning is a rare feat in the world of Major League Baseball, even more than throwing a perfect game. The odds of throwing two immaculate innings in the same game seem insurmountable. Amazing, Houston Astros pitchers Phil Maton and Luis García did just that on Wednesday.
An immaculate inning, which occurs when a pitcher strikes out all three batters he faces in one inning on 9 pitches, has become slightly more common in recent decades, but it still doesn’t happen very often. It occurred 37 times in the 2010s and, before Wednesday, had only occurred seven times in the 2020s.
García and Maton not only did it twice in a game against the Texas Rangers, but they did it against the same three batters each time. Absurd!
SAME GAME. SAME BATTERS.
PHIL MATON IS IMMACULATE. pic.twitter.com/xg53FGAJ02
— Houston Astros (@astros) June 15, 2022
Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Duran, and Brad Miller faced García in the second inning and Maton in the seventh inning. Each of them went down on three strikes both times.
This is wild. 🤯 @MLB
TWO immaculate innings in the same game.
TO THE SAME THREE HITTERS. pic.twitter.com/4nS51NFawI
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) June 15, 2022
Prior to this game, there had never before been two immaculate innings on the same day in MLB, let alone in the same game or by the same team.
This is the first time on record there have been two immaculate innings on a single calendar date, let alone in the same game OR by the same team
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 15, 2022
The only other immaculate inning so far in 2022 came in April when the New York Yankees’ Nestor Cortes Jr. did it against the Baltimore Orioles.
Naturally, this amazing feat caught the attention of the MLB world, who was absolutely shocked and stunned.
This is insane.
Odds of an immaculate inning: roughly 1 in 40,000
Odds of a perfect game: roughly 1 in 10,000
I believe that makes the odds two immaculate innings in one game roughly 1 in 1.6 billion….
There's only been 2.1 million in baseball history. https://t.co/i1fXpoJPtL
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) June 15, 2022
TWICE IN ONE GAME ARE YOU KIDDING ME https://t.co/ogQ94eJF0F
— The Scott & Holman Pawdcast (@SHPawdcast) June 15, 2022
PHIL MATON JUST THREW AN IMMACULATE INNING!!!!
— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) June 15, 2022
One game, two pitchers, two immaculate innings. https://t.co/S5faD8kQHx
— Matt Lanza (@mattlanza) June 15, 2022
Yes, that's never happened.
Baseball! https://t.co/VDOlP88fVF
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) June 15, 2022
Mind. Blown. #LevelUp https://t.co/hKVDThE01g
— Adam Clanton (@adamclanton) June 15, 2022
Lololol WUT https://t.co/MXNG52qiQ2
— Aaron Goldsmith (@heygoldy) June 15, 2022
