Diamondbacks’ Justin Martinez blows away Rangers with immaculate inning
Justin Martinez struck out the side on nine pitches, the fifth immaculate inning in Diamondbacks history.
Relief pitcher Justin Martinez #63 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches against the Cincinnati Reds during the eighth inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on August 21, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX — Arizona relief pitcher Justin Martinez struck out the side on nine pitches against the Texas Rangers on Friday, the second Diamondbacks immaculate inning this season and fifth in franchise history.
The only thing missing from his inning of dominance was the baseball to commemorate it.
“(Geraldo Perdomo) threw it away!” Martinez exclaimed. “He took the ball and gave it to the guy from MLB to authenticate it. And then he took the ball and threw it away.”
“I was so pissed,” Martinez said, laughing about it.
Starter Michael Soroka threw an immaculate inning in his D-backs debut on March 30. Wade Miley (2012), Byung-Hyun Kim (2002) and Randy Johnson (2001) provided the other three.
It was the fourth immaculate inning in Major League Baseball this season.
JUSTIN MARTINEZ IMMACULATE INNING!!! pic.twitter.com/k09x92LqCd
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 12, 2026
Martinez drew five whiffs with his nine pitches, striking out Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter and Jake Burger swinging.
Burger swung through all three pitches, as Martinez showed him a 102.6 mph heater followed by a 91 mph splitter that dropped like it had a string pulled. It looked like a glitch. There was one foul tip between the three overpowered hitters.
“I knew I was close when I was struck him out the second hitter,” Martinez said. “And I told myself, ‘Don’t think about that.
Don’t think about that. Just keep throwing strikes.’ And then it happened.”
Martinez has elite stuff between his triple-digit fastballs, slider and splitter, and he has looked increasingly sharper with each outing since he missed 15 months due to Tommy John surgery.
He has yet to give up an earned run, striking out 11 hitters in 7.2 innings.
“I’ve just been working on my delivery, working on my pitches, working on attacking the zone, the same things that I’ve been working on since I got here in the show,” Martinez said. “I know I got the surgery, but the mentality never changed. Just go out there and attack.”
The Diamondbacks had just built a 4-1 lead in the previous inning, raising the vibes at Chase Field as the team competes for a playoff spot. Martinez dominating the way he did continued to build that momentum and put pressure on Texas’ pitching to stop the bleeding. The D-backs extended their lead in the bottom half with five more runs to break the game open, 9-1.
The last team to complete multiple immaculate innings in the same season were the 2023 Pittsburgh Pirates (Colin Holderman and Johan Oviedo).
“It’s pretty amazing if you think about it,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “Two in one season. I think the fourth and fifth one for the D-backs all time. That’s what J-Mart can do for us. He’s been throwing the ball really good. He’s in the zone. I saw the Burger strikeout on the jumbotron. It looked like a split that just broke in and out of the zone. His stuff’s nasty. That’s what he’s capable of doing.”
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Comments
4 Comments
Wow!! Keep it going pitchers! No Mercy!!
It's amazing to me how other teams rest their players when a game gets out of hand, while TL only seems to do it on a "scheduled" basis. I think he actually pinched hit for Corbin in the bottom of the 8th only because he saw the Rangers start resting their starters and figured it was a good idea.
Good job Martinez. Do you think he is ready for the closers job?
And why is Corbin Carroll in the game? You walk up to him in the 6th and tell him he is done for the night. Go take a shower and get some treatment on your back. No blah blah blah from TL, he really wanted to be in there, always wants to play, hard worker...blah blah blah blah.