The word "immaculate" doesn't come into play a lot in baseball.
For an immaculate inning, a pitcher must be perfect to the utmost degree, fanning all three batters on three pitches each.
In MLB history, only 114 immaculate innings have been notched in recorded history, but at Double-A Somerset this season, Yankees pitching prospects have done in three times, twice in the past week.
The most recent occurred Sunday in Somerset’s 7-1 win over New Hampshire at Delta Dental Stadium, where Matt Sauer sat down the opposing batters in order in the fifth inning.
The No. 25 Yankees prospect picked up his sixth victory of the season after allowing one run on two hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.
Just five days earlier, Carlos Gomez posted an immaculate sixth in an 8-3 victory over the Fisher Cats, making Sauer’s the second such feat of the series with the Blue Jays affiliate.
The first one of the season for the Patriots was posted on July 15. No. 28 Yankees prospect Edgar Barclay entered the game in the fourth in long relief. He tallied an immaculate fifth while allowing two runs on six hits without a walk and six strikeouts in a 3-1 loss to Mets affiliate Binghamton.