Initially, Garcia had a rough start to his outing. He came into the first inning later than expected after his team exploded for six runs in the top half of the first inning.
By the time Garcia came in, he wasn’t feeling quite as warm as he was half an hour ago. It took him 31 pitches to get out of the bottom of the first, and he allowed one run.
However, the second inning was different. Garcia needed only nine pitches to get through all three Texas Rangers batters. Moreover, all nine pitches were strikes and all three outs were strikeouts. That’s what you call an immaculate inning.
Garcia said, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart:
Seven innings later, reliever Phil Maton would follow Garcia’s lead. Unlike Garcia, who threw some cutters and sliders during his immaculate inning, Maton threw only fastballs — nine of them. He struck out one batter with a foul tip, another looking, and the third swinging.
Maton said:
It wasn’t just a cool experience. It was historic.
Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado heard calls for Phil Maton’s ball from along the third-base line, but it came to him
This wasn’t just an impressive feat because it was dominant and efficient. Obviously, that was part of it. A pitcher can’t do his job better in an inning than strike out three straight batters with the minimum number of pitches required to pull it off.
It was impressive how Garcia and Maton were each able to do it on the same day.
After Maton recorded his third strikeout of the night, Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado wanted to grab the baseball he used to pull off the feat. It was a trophy.
Garcia added afterwards:
And it looked so good, too.
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