June 2, 2014 – Masterson’s Immaculate Inning and 25 Consecutive Strikes

The Red Sox were visiting Progressive Field to start a weekday series and had John Lackey matched up against Justin Masterson. The Red Sox came out strong, loading the bases on Masterson before Jonny Gomes struck out swinging to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 1st with Michael Bourn on 3rd and Michael Brantley on 2nd Lonnie Chisenhall slapped a single down the left field line for two RBI. Asdrubal Cabrera pushed Bourn across in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI single making the score 3-0.

In the top of the 4th, Justin Masterson struck out Jonny Gomes swinging on three pitches. Next up was Masterson’s former teammate Grady Sizemore. Grady took the first strike, fouled the second pitch off his ankle, and struck out swinging. Stephen Drew took the first two strikes, and then was called out on a check swing on a ball in the dirt. 9 pitches, 9 strikes, 3 outs–Immaculate Inning.

Not only did he strike out the side on nine pitches, but these nine were part of a run of 25 consecutive strikes from the top of the 3rd to the top of the 6th.

Overall, Masterson struck out ten. 67 of his 105 pitches were strikes.

Despite a 2-run homer off Bryan Shaw by Xander Bogarts, the Indians bullpen was able to hold on and secure the win.

Masterson was the first Indian ever to complete this rare feat. There have been 95 immaculate innings thrown in MLB history to date. Three years later, Carlos Carrasco threw the Tribe’s second immaculate inning in Game 85 of 2017.

In Game 20 of 2018, Yonder Alonso, Yan Gomes, and Bradley Zimmer fell victim to an Immaculate inning thrown by the Orioles Kevin Gausman. However, the Indians would still go on to win that game 2-1.

Baseball Reference Box Score

