Kevin Gausman pulls off rare feat during dominant start against Indians

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman turned in an excellent start Monday night against the Cleveland Indians. You could even call it heavenly.

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In the seventh inning, Gausman pulled off a pretty rare pitching feat: He threw an immaculate inning.

Not sure what that means? It’s OK, we’re here to help. An immaculate inning occurs when a pitcher strikes out the side on just nine pitches. It’s the most dominant a pitcher can be in a single inning. They do not allow any hits or walks, while striking out their opponent in the most efficient way possible.

It was the 90th time in Major League Baseball history a pitcher has been able to pull off the feat. The last time it happened was last August by Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello.

Last season was actually a pretty good time to rack up immaculate innings. There were eight of them in 2017. Typically, they are not that common. There was just once in 2016, and only two in 2015.

While Gausman showed some pretty excellent stuff in the start, he actually wound up going home a hard-luck loser. Over eight innings, Gausman allowed two runs on four hits. He struck out seven and walked one batter.

The Orioles, however, couldn’t muster up much offense against the Indians. They scored just one run, which stuck Gausman on the wrong end of a 2-1 loss.

Kevin Gausman tossed an immaculate inning Monday night. (AP Photo)
Kevin Gausman tossed an immaculate inning Monday night. (AP Photo)

Though things ended poorly for Gausman, his start couldn’t have come at a better time. The 27-year-old has struggled to open the season, and had a 5.57 ERA entering this contest. Following Monday’s game, he lowered his ERA to 4.66.

Gausman still has some work to do, but this start should provide some optimism that he can get back on track. It’s not easy to be completely untouchable for a single inning, but Gausman managed to pull that off Monday night.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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