Red Sox ace Chris Sale makes history with immaculate inning

Chris Sale threw his third career immaculate inning for the Red Sox

Nine pitches, nine strikes. That’s all it took for Boston Red Sox lefty Chris Sale to breeze through the third inning against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.

The immaculate inning in which a pitcher strikes out the side in order using only nine pitches is among the rarest of baseball achievements. It might not be quite as economical as escaping an inning with the minimum of three pitches but the pure dominance of overwhelming the opposing lineup with a barrage of strikes is a sight to behold.

Of the nine strikes in the inning, five of them were swings-and-misses, including the third strike to all three batters. Sale sent Nick Gordon and Andrelton Simmons down swinging with his four-seam fastball, then got Rob Refsnyder to chase a slider to finish off the inning.

The immaculate inning was the third of Sale’s career, tying him with Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax for the major league record.

The last three immaculate innings by a Red Sox pitcher all belong to Sale. The previous two instances both occurred during the 2019 season, on May 8 in Baltimore and on June 5 in Kansas City. The record-tying performance last night is the only immaculate inning that Sale has produced at home.

Prior to Sale, the last immaculate inning by a Red Sox pitcher at Fenway Park was from Pedro Martinez on May 18, 2002 against the Seattle Mariners. Pedro started that game with an immaculate first inning on his way to recording nine strikeouts over eight innings of one-run ball to earn the win, improving his record at the time to 6-0.

Sale also notched a win to cap his night, giving him three wins in as many starts since returning from a two-year absence due to Tommy John surgery. He tossed 5 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits and two walks while striking out eight.

The lefty is still building up his workload with the Red Sox limiting him to under 90 pitches in all three starts. He made it one out further last night than he had in his previous two starts when he was pulled after five innings.

Aside from the cautious pitch counts, Sale hasn’t missed a beat despite a long layoff while recovering from surgery. He’s 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 21 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings this season.

The only thing holding Sale back from reclaiming the mantle of staff ace is the limited workload but he’s making steady progress. He also showed an uptick in velocity in hist last start with four of his fastballs hitting 98+ mph against the Twins, per Baseball Savant.

Red Sox fans waited a long time to see Sale on the mound again and he hasn’t disappointed. With the surgery far behind him, a healthy Sale is ready to establish himself as one of the league’s best pitchers once again. Not every frame can be as efficient as his immaculate inning but Sale is always a threat to mow down any opposing lineup.