I feel like we’ve been here before.
The scene is Tropicana Field and the event…an immaculate inning. However, this time it wasn’t Tampa Bay Rays reliever Brad Boxberger striking out the side Wednesday night, it was New York Yankees starter Brandon McCarthy doing the deed.
In the seventh inning, the righty joined Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Randy Johnson and a number of other pitchers and become one of only 72 different pitchers to strike out the side on just nine pitches.
Oh..there’s also this.
Immaculate inning.. I think I just found the name for my new band
— Amanda McCarthy (@Mrs_McCarthy32) September 18, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsIn case you’re keeping track, McCarthy entered the seventh inning (his last) and shut down Wil Myers, Nick Franklin and Matt Joyce on nine straight. In the process, the tall 31-year-old became just the fifth Yankee to pull it off.
Brandon McCarthy: 5th pitcher in #Yankees history to strike out the side on 9 pitches (Al Downing, Ron Guidry, A.J. Burnett,Ivan Nova) #mlb — Lee Sinins (@BaseballEncyclo) September 18, 2014
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McCarthy is the record sixth(!) pitcher to complete the feat in the past year. Boxberger (May 8), Cole Hamels (May 17), Justin Masterson (June2), Garrett Richards (June 4) and Rex Brothers (June 14) were the others. And should McCarthy do it again…he’d join Lefty Grove, Nolan Ryan and “The Big Unit” as members of the two-timers club. Hall of Famer Koufax is the only pitcher who has done it three times.
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