ANAHEIM—Angels starter Reid Detmers became the first pitcher in seven years with a no-hitter and an immaculate inning in the same season, achieving the latter against the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
The Rangers matched the 1979 San Francisco Giants as the only lineups to have three immaculate innings thrown against them in a season. Houston got Texas for two immaculate innings in the same game June 15.
Detmers, who pitched a no-hitter against Tampa Bay on May 10, struck out three Texas hitters on nine pitches in the second inning for the 109th immaculate inning in baseball history.
The left-handed Detmers struck out Ezequiel Duran, Kole Calhoun and Charlie Culberson. It is the fourth immaculate inning in the majors this year. Detmers went seven innings and struck out a career-high 12 while allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits.
He did not earn a decision as the game was tied at 2 when he departed.
The Rangers became the first team to have it happen twice in the same game when Astros starter Luis Garcia retired the side in the second inning and reliever Phil Maton did it in the seventh on June 15.
Duran has been one of the batters in all three against the Rangers, a first according to MLB.com.
He went 0–1 with a 5.67 ERA in six starts after his no-hitter before he was sent to Triple-A Salt Lake for a couple weeks, but he is showing signs of bouncing back.
Since being recalled, Detmers is 1–0 with a 1.13 ERA in four starts. He has allowed four runs (three earned) in 24 innings with 31 strikeouts.
Before Detmers, Houston’s Mike Fiers in 2015 was the last to do the immaculate/no-hitter double in the same year.
It is only the third immaculate inning in Angels history, with all three occurring in the second inning. Nolan Ryan was the first on July 9, 1972 against Boston and Garrett Richards accomplished it on June 4, 2014 at Houston.
Immaculate innings remain special, but aren’t as rare as they once were. This is the 10th since 2020 and 61st since 2000. There were none recorded from 1929–52.
