On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Colin Holderman. threw the 2023 MLB season's first immaculate inning.
But what is an immaculate inning?
An immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out three batters, on three strikes each. Basically a pitcher can't throw a ball and a batter cannot keep fouling off balls to extend at-bats.
Nine pitches total.
Immaculate innings used to be a rare feat. Between 1876 and 1989 there were just 31 immacuate innings. 31 over 114 seasons of baseball. Major League Baseball pitchers threw 31 over the following 20 seasons, from 1990 to 2009.
And they've become even more frequent since then. There were 43 immaculate innings between 2010 and 2021 and there were seven last season alone.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Hayden Wesneski threw one of those immaculate innings in September 2022, coincidentally against the Pirates.
Holderman stepped up to the mound in the seventh inning with the Pirates down 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays. He required just nine pitches to dispose of Taylor Walls, Luke Raley and Christian Bethancourt and became just the fourth pitcher in franchise history to complete an immaculate inning.
With Holderman taking his leave after one inning, the Rays then tacked on a homer in the eighth to extend their lead to three. But Pittsburgh managed to make things interesting with a two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning. Ultimately their luck ran short, however, as they weren't able to pull out another run down the stretch.
