The Pittsburgh Pirates went 2,495 days between their pitchers throwing an immaculate innings, then needed only 20 days to do it again.
Johan Oviedo completed the feat by striking out three batters on nine pitches in the fourth inning Wednesday afternoon against the Texas Rangers. It was the second immaculate inning in the majors this season, with both by Pirates pitchers this month. Colin Holderman completed one May 4 in the seventh inning at Tampa Bay.
“It’s amazing,” Oviedo said. “It’s also great that one of my teammates did it first. Now I did it. It’s exciting. It’s really hard to do that in baseball, so I’m excited about that.”
Oviedo struck out the side by getting Jonah Heim swinging at a slider, Robbie Grossman swinging at a curveball and Josh H. Smith looking at a called third strike on a 98 mph fastball.
ANOTHER IMMACULATE INNING pic.twitter.com/QTchyXbyK1
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 24, 2023
“It’s crazy,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Until this year, I think I only saw two of them ever. I think it just shows the quality of the stuff our guys have.”
It marked the fourth immaculate inning by a Pirates pitcher since data started to be tracked by Elias Sports Bureau in 2000. Juan Nicaso did so July 4, 2016 at St. Louis and Ross Ohlendorf on Sept. 5, 2009 against the Cardinals at PNC Park. The only other recorded instance of a Pirates pitcher completing an immaculate inning was by Jeff Robinson on Sept. 7, 1987 against the Chicago Cubs.
Per the Pirates, the only other recorded instances of a major-league team throwing two immaculate innings in the same month was by the Houston Astros, when Phil Maton and Luis Garcia did so in June 2022.
“It definitely is amazing,” said Oviedo, adding that he had been close twice in his career. “Thankfully, it happened. You kinda know but, like last time, I tried not to think about it and this time it just happened.”
