Miami Marlins starter Cal Quantrill was dealing Sunday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays. So much so that he made a bit of MLB history when he tossed an immaculate inning in the top of the fourth.
Quantrill's immaculate inning—which is when a pitcher strikes out three consecutive batters on three pitches each—was just the 116th in MLB history. After striking out the side on nine total pitches in the fourth, he threw one more inning and ended the outing giving up just two hits and one earned run.
IMMACULATE INNING 🚨
— MLB (@MLB) May 18, 2025
Cal Quantrill tosses the first immaculate inning of the season! pic.twitter.com/FQ52ws9wLy
Here's every pitch he threw during the three-up, three-down fourth:
All 9 pitches from Cal Quantrill's immaculate inning 😎 https://t.co/gI9r5k3JVY pic.twitter.com/8BRCa0Hcr4
— MLB (@MLB) May 18, 2025
While immaculate innings have been fairly common in recent seasons—with two in 2023 and '24, plus seven in '22—it's still an incredibly rare feat when you zoom out and look at the MLB's long history. MLB analyst Ryan Spaeder laid out how an immaculate inning is actually more rare than a perfect game.
#Marlins Cal Quantrill tosses the 116th Immaculate Inning in MLB History.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) May 18, 2025
About 460,000 pitched games in MLB history, and 23 perfect games:
≈0.00500% (1 in 20,000)
About 4,275,000 innings pitched in MLB history, and 116 immaculate innings:
≈0.002713% (1 in 36,853)
Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot threw the last immaculate inning, which came on Sept. 18 last season against the Boston Red Sox. Former Chicago White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech did it last season too, hurling one July 10 against the Minnesota Twins. Quantrill's immaculate inning Sunday was the first of the 2025 MLB season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Marlins' Cal Quantrill Throws 116th Immaculate Inning in MLB History.
