WASHINGTON – Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer has never thrown a perfect game. However, he’s tossed two perfect innings – a feat no other active MLB pitcher can lay claim to.
In Tuesday’s 4-2 victory vs. Tampa Bay, Scherzer’s sixth inning was immaculate: Nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts. Perfection. An ‘immaculate inning’.
“Awesome. It’s just one of those things, it just happened,” Scherzer said to MLB.com’s Jamal Collier. “Just executing pitches. It’s one of those things where, hey, it happened. That’s more to the preparation than anything and knowing what [catcher Pedro Severino] wanted behind the plate.”
The immaculate inning is the second of Scherzer’s career and the third in Nationals history. He also accomplished the feat May 14, 2017 vs. Philadelphia.
Other than Scherzer, the only other pitchers in Major League Baseball history to have recorded at least two career immaculate innings are all in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
For the season, Max is 10-and-1 with a 1.95 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 87.2 innings pitched.