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.