Red Sox Memories: Boston's rich history with the immaculate inning

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Five members of the Boston Red Sox have achieved one of the rarest feats in all of baseball for a pitcher; the immaculate inning.

Before the Red Sox were a thing, the only professional baseball team in Boston was the Beaneaters, who would eventually become the Boston Braves. On June 4, 1889, the Beaneaters took the diamond against the Philadelphia Quakers with righty stud John Clarkson toeing the rubber.

Clarkson led the league in TWELVE pitching categories that season, and the one feat he accomplished that June afternoon would be remembered in the record books for eternity. In the third inning of that contest, Clarkson struck out Jim Fogarty, Sam Thompson, and Sid Farrar on nine pitches, thus making him the first player in baseball history to achieve the immaculate inning.

How rare is the immaculate inning? Rarer than a no-hitter. there have been 303 no-hitters in the modern era of baseball. There have only been 206 instances of the immaculate inning. Sandy Koufax did it three times (a record). Lefty Grove, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Max Scherzer, and a current member of your Boston Red Sox have done it twice.

Of the pitchers on this shortlist to have done it more than once, four are in the Hall of Fame, and the two current players will most likely be enshrined in Cooperstown after they retire. The immaculate inning started in Boston, and its rich history permeates the last 20 years of Red Sox baseball.

113 years after Clarkson K’d the side on nine, a 5 foot 11, 175-pound flamethrower from the Dominican gave the Red Sox their first immaculate inning.

Pitcher Pedro Martinez #45 of the Boston Red Sox in action during a spring training game against the Minnesota Twins at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Florida. The Red Sox defeated the Twins 11-2. /

Pedro Brings it Home

On May 18, 2002, Pedro Martinez stepped onto the mound at Fenway Park in the first inning to face a formidable Seattle Mariners lineup. The Mariners were fresh off a 116 win season, and leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki was having another monster year, batting .350 with a preposterous .429 OBP.

If Pedro was going to beat the M’s, he had to keep the pesky Ichiro off the base paths. Martinez did just that in the first, K’ing him on three pitches. He then got Mark McLemore and Ruben Sierra to do the same.

And just like that, Pedro had an immaculate inning under his belt and the legend of the Red Sox hurler would grow that much more.

I can’t even imagine facing a fresh Pedro in his prime. Those guys had no chance. Just think about getting into the batter’s box and a young Pedro is staring you down from the mound, no thank you.

Surprisingly, Pedro never threw his no-hitter. Unsurprisingly, he became the first Boston player in American League history to accomplish the immaculate inning.

(Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images) /

Whattaya Say, Clay?

For all his ups and downs in a Red Sox uniform, Clay Buchholz had a pretty decent run as a member of Boston’s starting rotation. He went 81-61 in his ten-year tenure, had a 3.96 ERA, was a two-time all-star, and managed to hit some rare milestones along the way.

Of course, who could forget in the second start of his career, Clay tossed a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles, making him an instant folk hero with the Fenway Faithful.

Clay also tossed an immaculate inning against…guess who? The Orioles. Ten years after Pedro’s double “I”, Clay faced Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, and Chris Davis in the bottom of the 6th at Camden Yards. By this point, Baltimore had to be petitioning Bud Selig to keep Buchholz far away from them.

Three up, three down as Buchholz would go another two full innings, finishing with an eight-inning, three-run performance. The Sox went on to win 6-3 late in one of the most dreadful seasons in Sox history. Buck is currently a free agent and considering his history against Baltimore, it may be in their best interest to sign him so he can’t pick on them anymore.

Dirty Craig

During his three-year Red Sox tenure, Craig Kimbrel was one of the most dominating closers in the game. He averaged 37 saves a year, and had 305 strikeouts in 184 innings pitched.

After missing the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, Dave Dombrowski acquired Kimbrel from the Padres for the 2016 campaign, and the Sox made three consecutive playoff appearances, bringing home the hardware in 2018 for its ninth world championship.

Kimbrel didn’t bring too much to the table during the ’18 World Series, but on May 11, 2017, he came out of the pen vs. the Brewers at Miller Park and put on a show.

With the Sox leading 4-1 thanks to a strong start from Eduardo Rodriguez, Kimbrel achieved the immaculate inning by inviting Hernan Perez, Travis Shaw, and Domingo Santana to kindly head back to the clubhouse showers. (Fun fact about Shaw…he was on the losing end of another immaculate inning).

Kimbrel had some electric stuff during his time in Boston and would be a pillar of the Red Sox bullpen. The nasty righty would leave the team via free agency after he priced himself out of Boston’s budget.

Frederick Alfred Makes History

Frederick Alfred (Rick) Porcello had a career in Boston that kind of mirrored Clay Buchholz’. Now, before you get out the tar and feathers, hear me out. As mentioned early, Buchholz had his ups and downs, and so did Porcello. A year after winning the Cy Young Award in 2016, Porcello led the league in losses.

He won 17 games in 2008 and had a plus-five ERA last season. Woof. We all know that Clay Buchholz was made of glass, going on the DL 659 times during his ten-year Red Sox career (hyperbole).

Porcello, on the other hand, has taken numerous line drives to the torso and head and literally laughed them off. No one can argue Porcello’s heart and toughness. That’s why I was happy to see his name appear on this list for immaculate innings.

On August 9, 2017, the Sox had a commanding 6-0 lead against the Rays, when Porcello got Trevor Plouffe, Wilson Ramos, and Mallex Smith to help him make history. Despite his strong tenure in Boston, Pretty Ricky will most likely never get the credit he deserves for what he did with the Red Sox.

He now has a chance to rehab his career with the Mets before becoming a free agent again in 2021.

The Two Day Sale

It took the Red Sox 101 years of playing baseball to have one of its hurlers toss an immaculate inning. It should come as no surprise that lefty flamethrower Chris Sale accomplished the feat twice in one season. Just take a step back from your screen, take a nice deep breath, and let that sink in for a moment. The man went out there and did the dang thing TWICE in a single season, insane.

Red Sox Memories: Boston’s rich history with the immaculate inning