Mason Miller wipes out O's on 9 straight sliders in immaculate inning
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SAN DIEGO -- When the Padres landed Mason Miller in a Trade Deadline day blockbuster, this is the kind of dominance they probably envisioned.
Miller became just the second Padre in history to complete an immaculate inning -- three strikeouts on nine pitches -- during the eighth inning of the Padres’ 7-5 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park. He threw nine consecutive sliders and set down Baltimore’s 2-3-4 hitters in order -- Jeremiah Jackson, Ryan Mountcastle and Emmanuel Rivera.
“It’s an awesome accomplishment, something I’m proud of for sure,” Miller said.
He joined Brian Lawrence as the only Padres pitchers to achieve the feat. Coincidentally, Lawrence also did so against Baltimore, punching out Brook Fordyce, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Melvin Mora on June 12, 2002.
“Would have been way better if we’d had a two-run lead, but good for Mason,” manager Mike Shildt said. “It was electric. Slider was unhittable.”
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Miller has been everything the Padres could’ve hoped for since they landed him from the A’s along with JP Sears in exchange for four prospects. He’s posted a 1.50 ERA across 12 innings with 22 K's -- and a whopping 50% strikeout rate.
He took that dominance up another notch on Wednesday, getting Jackson to look at strike one, before inducing eight straight swings-and-misses to add his name to the baseball history books. His slider was effective -- as it usually is against right-handed hitters -- so he just kept going to it.
“It’s not often that I get three righties in a row,” Miller said. “But once we saw the success start, it was kind of one of those things -- you don’t go away from [the slider].”
Miller said that after his second strikeout he became keenly aware of the history he was chasing, and he took a fairly straightforward approach from there:
“Hey, don’t throw a ball,” he said. “If they’re going to beat me, they’re going to beat me, but don’t beat yourself.”
Miller’s immaculate inning was the fourth in the Majors this season. He joined the Marlins' Cal Quantrill, the Cubs' Andrew Kittredge and the Orioles' Brandon Young in accomplishing the feat.
The last time the Orioles were the victims of an immaculate inning came in 2022 against the Yankees' Nestor Cortes -- who happened to be starting Wednesday’s game for San Diego. Cortes was roughed up Wednesday, allowing six runs on four homers. The Padres mounted a comeback effort, with Miller’s immaculate eighth and homers from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, but ultimately came up short.
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