At long last, a Canadian is immaculate once again.
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Cal Quantrill, of Port Hope, Ont., set down a trio of Tampa Bay Rays to throw the first immaculate inning of the 2025 season on Sunday.
Quantrill came out firing at the top of the fourth inning, starting the nine-pitch frame with three straight high-and-away cutters to Jonathan Aranda to get him striking out swinging.
Christopher Morel was up next, but suffered the same fate as he got caught looking at a 93.4 m.p.h. four-seam fastball high and away.
To cap off the gem, he got Kameron Misner to foul off a four-seamer, then got him to take a cutter low and away, and finally finished him off with a high cutter that the Rays centre-fielder swung and missed on.
Catching the immaculate inning was Toronto native Liam Hicks, who hit his fourth home run of the season in the sixth.
Montreal-raised Otto Lopez also hit a home run for the Marlins.
With the nine-pitch performance, Quantrill became only the second Canadian in MLB history to throw an immaculate inning after Rich Harden did it in 2008 with the Oakland Athletics.
Quantrill has struggled in his first season with the Marlins. He came into Sunday’s outing with a 2-4 record and a 7.00 ERA over eight starts.
However, his immaculate inning was just one part of what was his best outing of the year. He finished with 5.0 innings pitched, two hits, two walks, one earned run and six strikeouts and was credited with the win in the Marlins’ 5-1 victory.
Quantrill is the son of Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer and former Blue Jay Paul Quantrill, who pitched in the majors for 14 seasons.
