White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech etched himself into MLB history on Wednesday, throwing MLB's 116th immaculate inning in the ninth against the Twins.
MORE: What is an immaculate inning? How to achieve the feat more rare than a no-hitter
Kopech became the second White Sox player in franchise history to toss an immaculate inning. No White Sox pitcher has achieved the feat in over 100 years. Hollis "Sloppy" Thurston was the last White Sox player to throw one on Aug. 22, 1923.
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Before Kopech, Johan Oviedo recorded the most recent immaculate inning on May 24, 2023. He struck out Josh Smith, Robbie Grossman and Jonah Heim in nine strikes in the fourth inning of that game.
An immaculate inning, simply, is recording three strikeouts in nine total pitches. Nine pitches, nine strikes. A pitcher who strikes out three batters using only three pitches for each at-bat achieves the immaculate inning.
No, foul balls do not count towards an immaculate inning unless they are committed during the first or second strike of the at-bat. It has to be three strikeouts in a row using solely nine pitches.
On Wednesday, Kopech struck out Brooks Lee on a third strike looking at a 100-mile-per-hour fastball after he fouled off the first two pitches. Against Matt Wallner, he got him swinging on another 100-mile-per-hour fastball after fouling off and swinging at two prior fastballs. Finally, against Max Kepler, Kopech got him swinging on (guess what) another 100-mile-per-hour fastball after burning two cutters by him.
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"I was telling guys in there, I'm trying not to lie about it but I was thinking about it from pitch four," Kopech said of the immaculate inning after the game. "As soon as I realized there were no balls on the board I wanted to finish that feat off. It feels good, but I would've never thought about it again if I threw a ball in there at some point. Glad to have a clean inning and get the win."