ST PETERSBURG -- Making his first appearance back in the Majors since being sent down in late June, Rays reliever Jose Alvarado threw an immaculate ninth inning in a 2-0 loss to the Brewers on Friday.
Alvarado struck out the side on nine pitches, fanning Travis Shaw and Jesus Aguilar swinging and catching Hernan Perez looking. He threw seven fastballs averaging 99.1 mph, along with a changeup and a curveball that both finished off swinging strikeouts.
"The bright spot to that game was Jose Alvarado's last inning of work," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "That looked like a different pitcher from what we saw a couple months ago. You can tell he's gone down there and made some adjustments, and that's pretty exciting to see."
The lefty last pitched for the Rays on June 24, and had a 5.89 ERA at the time he was sent to the Minors. He had allowed a run in five of his final six outings, totaling seven runs over 4 1/3 innings.
Alvarado pitched the third immaculate inning in Rays franchise history, after Rafael Soriano in 2010 and Brad Boxberger in 2014.