Yoshinobu Yamamoto was nearly immaculate — because the home plate umpire was anything but.
The Dodgers ace came within one pitch of an immaculate inning — three strikeouts on just nine pitches — Thursday night after home plate umpire Marvin Hudson missed a clear third strike and instead called it a ball.
Yamamoto began the top of the third against the Padres by striking out Bryce Johnson and Martín Maldonado on six pitches. That brought up Fernando Tatis Jr., who quickly fell behind 0-2.
But a 96 mph fastball over the heart of the plate was inexplicably called a ball.
“It is…oh no!” Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis said after the call. “Marvin Hudson cost him an immaculate inning!”
“I mean that’s not even close,” color commentator Eric Karros added. “Wow!”
Davis took it a step further, asking if the automatic ball-strike system that’s used in the minor leagues can be implemented to rectify the blown call.
“Can we get ABS on loan for the night from Triple-A?” Davis said. “That’s a bummer!”
Undeterred by the missed call, Yamamoto got Tatis to swing and miss at a cut fastball just two pitches later to strike out the side.
Immaculate innings are one of baseball’s rarest feats, with just 116 recorded in Major League Baseball history, according to Sports Illustrated.
The most recent instance occurred earlier this season on May 18, when Marlins pitcher Cal Quantrill struck out Jonathan Aranda, Christopher Morel and Kameron Misner of the Rays.
Following the milestone, MLB analyst Ryan M. Spaeder pointed out that while there have been more immaculate innings than perfect games (23) in league history, the odds of witnessing one tell a different story: when measured against total innings and games played, you’re nearly twice as likely to see a perfect game as an immaculate inning.