Nine pitches. Nine strikes. It’s something that hadn’t been done by a White Sox pitcher in over a century. That is until Michael Kopech put his name in the White Sox record books on Wednesday by throwing an immaculate inning.
Kopech’s immaculate inning put an exclamation mark on a 3-1 White Sox victory and earned the 28-year-old right-hander his ninth save of the season. His nine strikes included five four-seam fastballs and four cutters to make quick work of the back half of the Twins lineup. Brooks Lee was his first victim after watching a 100 mph fastball blow past him for a called strike. Kopech then dispatched Matt Wallner with another 100 mph heater out of the zone. Kopech capped off the inning with one last triple-digit four-seamer that Max Kepler was unable to check his swing on.
It marked the first immaculate inning in the MLB this season and the first in franchise history in 101 years. The last White Sox pitcher to accomplish the feat was Sloppy Thurston on August 22, 1923. The timing couldn’t have been better for Kopech, who needed a confidence boost after blowing his fifth save of the season during his last outing against the Marlins. Koepch told reporters after the game that he was thinking about the possibility of throwing an immaculate inning after just his fourth pitch. His ERA now sits at 5.18 on the year.
Wednesday's performance at Guaranteed Rate field served as a reminder of just how good that Kopech can be. While the overall numbers have been ugly on the surface, there have been some signs that Kopech can be an effective reliever moving forward. This season, opponents expected batting average against him is just .212. He also owns a nearly 30% strikeout rate which ranks in the MLB’s 90th percentile. Now Kopech is just the 114th pitcher in MLB history to throw an immaculate inning.
