Miami Marlins or Tampa Bay Rays fans not paying close attention during the fourth inning of Sunday’s matchup might have been surprised by how quickly the top of the frame went by. Or they may have missed a special achievement by Marlins pitcher Cal Quantrill.
However, those who were dialed in watched the first immaculate inning of the 2025 MLB season and the 116th in baseball history. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, an immaculate inning occurs when a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches.
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Quantrill led off the inning by sitting down Jonathan Aranda on three consecutive cutters, all on the high and inside portion of the strike zone. The right-hander then got ahead of Christopher Morel with a sinker and curveball before catching him looking at a four-seam fastball on the high outside corner. Quantrill finished off the inning with a fastball to Kameron Misner followed by two cutters, the last of which was high and out of the strike zone. But Misner chased it for a strikeout.
An immaculate inning might not seem more rare than a perfect game. And in terms of numbers, it isn’t. There have been 23 perfect games pitched in MLB history compared to those 116 immaculate innings. But in terms of percentages, pitching an immaculate inning is more, as MLB analyst Ryan Spaeder explained on social media.
Out of approximately 460,000 pitched games in major league history, 23 of those have been perfect games — or roughly 0.00500% (one in 20,000). Compare that to around 4,275,000 innings pitched and 116 of them being immaculate. That equals about 0.002713% (or one in 36,853).
So for those who were watching Quantrill in that fourth inning closely, congratulations! You witnessed a rare feat in baseball history.
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Quantrill’s immaculate inning was the first in MLB since Tampa Bay’s Ryan Pepiot threw one last season on Sept. 18, 2024 versus the Boston Red Sox. (Two were thrown last year.) And he’s the second Marlins pitcher to do so since Jesus Sanchez got three strikeouts on nine pitches against the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 13, 1998. (There were five immaculate innings thrown that season.)
You can scroll through the complete list of immaculate innings in MLB history here.
Quantrill, 30, will surely enjoy achieving that feat in what’s been a rough season for him thus far. In eight starts prior to Sunday’s performance, he compiled a 7.00 ERA and 2-4 record with 23 strikeouts in 36 innings. That rate of 5.8 strikeouts per nine innings is the second-lowest of his seven-year MLB career. He was also allowing 11.5 hits per nine frames, the highest rate of his seven seasons.
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Behind Quantrill allowing one run with two hits and six strikeouts over five innings, the Marlins defeated the Rays, 5-1. Miami’s runs came on a three-run homer from Otto Lopez in the fourth, followed by a two-run shot by Liam Hicks in the sixth.
Following his five innings, Quantrill now has a 6.37 ERA and 3-4 record with 29 strikeouts in 41 innings. His strikeout rate improved to 6.37, while his hit rate is down to 10.54. So there’s definitely room for Quantrill to improve. He might just have to keep pitching immaculately to get there.