Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (41) throws against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Chris Sale is rounding into top form after pitching an immaculate inning in Thursday’s start.
The fate of the Boston Red Sox may hinge on the left arm of Chris Sale. If his three starts since returning to the rotation for the first time since 2019 are any indication, he’s going to be a beast down the stretch and possibly the postseason.
Sale pitched an immaculate inning against the Minnesota Twins with the lefty looking in vintage form. This is an understatement, but this is an encouraging sign for the Red Sox who have a 1.5 game lead on the Oakland Athletics for the second Wild Card spot.
Chris Sale pitches immaculate inning
What’s an immaculate inning?
You may be a baseball fan and think you know everything there is to know about baseball but may have not heard of an immaculate inning until now.
An immaculate inning is when the pitcher gets three strikeouts in a row on nine straight strikes. It’s the most dominating a pitcher can be in an inning.
Sale’s third inning where he fanned Nick Gordon, Andrelton Simmons and Rob Refsnyder was the first immaculate inning since Chad Green of the New York Yankees accomplished the feat on July 4 against the New York Mets.
Sale’s immaculate inning was the fourth immaculate inning in baseball this season.
There have been 104 immaculate innings in baseball history with seven pitchers doing it more than once, including Sandy Koufax who did it three times and Nolan Ryan who was the first to have an immaculate inning in the National League and American League.