It was an immaculate pitch.
Sadly, the umpire didn't see it that way.
Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto started the top of the third inning Thursday night against the Padres with eight consecutive strikes. Two strikeouts, and an 0-2 count on the third man to hit in the inning.
Yamamoto drilled a 96 mph fastball at the top of the zone, but clearly a strike based on the TV broadcast's strike box.
It wasn't called a strike.
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And so instead of the rare baseball feat of an Immaculate Inning, of which there has been only one so far this year (Miami's Cal Quantrill), Yamamoto instead missed out through no fault of his own.
Had this been called a strike, it would've been an immaculate inning for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. pic.twitter.com/bdOCBmK3j4
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 20, 2025
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Yamamoto then threw a second ball to Fernando Tatis Jr. before striking him out swinging.
So instead of nine pitches, nine strikes, and three strikeouts of immaculateness, Yamamoto had to settle for 1-2-3 11-pitch inning in which he struck out the side.
Yamamoto and catcher Will Smith surely realized what they had just missed out on in the moment, but it's good that they locked back in to escape a dangerous hitter with no damage.
But it's awful that the Japanese star didn't get his own piece of baseball history.
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