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On Thursday, Gavin Williams did something only two MLB pitchers have managed to do all season.
In a pivotal AL Central matchup with the Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Guardians threw a perfectly clean, immaculate fourth inning as part of a brilliant seven-inning, two-hit, 11-strikeout performance. You know, immaculate? The whole nine pitches, nine strikes, and three strikeouts deal? All things considered, it's the kind of achievement that should make the Guardians feel at least somewhat OK about an otherwise uninspiring 3-1 loss while chasing the division-leading Chicago White Sox in the standings.
And forget just this season. An immaculate inning has only ever happened 122 times total in MLB history, a.k.a. in 137 years. Dearest readers, suffice it to say: It is an extremely rare and extremely impressive occurrence.
Knowing that, you could forgive Williams' teammate, seven-time All-Star José Ramírez, for not realizing what his pitching teammate had achieved at the close of the inning. When Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey threw the ball to Ramírez as everyone walked off the field, Ramírez initially wanted to throw the ball into the stands and turn it into someone else's souvenir. Because hey, you don't usually realize something historic baseball-wise happened right away when you're also part of that history without ... having to do anything yourself. It happens.
Fortunately, Bailey got him to hold off before disaster.
Make no mistake. That is a special baseball for Williams and Williams alone:
While this immaculate inning will undoubtedly be a treasured memory for Williams for years to come, the Guardians will need him to keep this sort of momentum up over the course of the rest of the season if they want to catch the White Sox. For now, though, he can just enjoy making history. It's the small wins along the way that count the most.
Michael Soroka threw an immaculate inning for the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 30 in a matchup against the Detroit Tigers.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: José Ramírez almost threw away ball from Guardians pitcher's immaculate inning
Continue reading...
In a pivotal AL Central matchup with the Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Guardians threw a perfectly clean, immaculate fourth inning as part of a brilliant seven-inning, two-hit, 11-strikeout performance. You know, immaculate? The whole nine pitches, nine strikes, and three strikeouts deal? All things considered, it's the kind of achievement that should make the Guardians feel at least somewhat OK about an otherwise uninspiring 3-1 loss while chasing the division-leading Chicago White Sox in the standings.
And forget just this season. An immaculate inning has only ever happened 122 times total in MLB history, a.k.a. in 137 years. Dearest readers, suffice it to say: It is an extremely rare and extremely impressive occurrence.
Knowing that, you could forgive Williams' teammate, seven-time All-Star José Ramírez, for not realizing what his pitching teammate had achieved at the close of the inning. When Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey threw the ball to Ramírez as everyone walked off the field, Ramírez initially wanted to throw the ball into the stands and turn it into someone else's souvenir. Because hey, you don't usually realize something historic baseball-wise happened right away when you're also part of that history without ... having to do anything yourself. It happens.
Fortunately, Bailey got him to hold off before disaster.
Make no mistake. That is a special baseball for Williams and Williams alone:
While this immaculate inning will undoubtedly be a treasured memory for Williams for years to come, the Guardians will need him to keep this sort of momentum up over the course of the rest of the season if they want to catch the White Sox. For now, though, he can just enjoy making history. It's the small wins along the way that count the most.
Who threw the other immaculate inning so far in the 2026 MLB season?
Michael Soroka threw an immaculate inning for the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 30 in a matchup against the Detroit Tigers.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: José Ramírez almost threw away ball from Guardians pitcher's immaculate inning
Continue reading...
