SAN DIEGO — In his 12th appearance for his new team, as the San Diego Padres chased a potential comeback win, star reliever Mason Miller threw the second immaculate inning in franchise history. He struck out all three batters in nine pitches, marking the 121st immaculate inning in major-league history.
The rarity unfolded five innings after a fellow member of the Padres’ pitching staff found himself on the wrong side of a more ignominious chain of events.
Acquired from the Athletics in a July 31 blockbuster, Miller took the Petco Park mound in Wednesday’s top of the eighth. The Padres trailed by two runs in what had been a more lopsided game; in the top of the third, starting pitcher Nestor Cortes, who allowed a leadoff home run to begin the afternoon, surrendered back-to-back-to-back homers for the second time this season.
It proved too much to overcome in a 7-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles that sealed a series sweep and drew vocal disapproval from the home crowd. The Padres, now three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, have dropped eight of their last 10 contests amid their worst stretch of the season.
“I would have booed myself too if I was watching this game,” Cortes said. “It’s unacceptable. It’s embarrassing. Just got to be better.”
Cortes, like Miller, was acquired on July 31. His trade from the Milwaukee Brewers came four months after he served up three consecutive first-pitch homers to the New York Yankees in his Brewers debut. The veteran has at times performed for the Padres, but his latest clunker — Cortes yielded six runs over 2 1/3 innings — continued an alarming trend for a rotation that has gone nine consecutive games without an outing of more than five innings.
That has helped prevent a league-leading bullpen from fully showcasing its talents, as Miller did Wednesday.
Immaculate 🤌 pic.twitter.com/B2mwj9g4Uf
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 3, 2025
After the Padres scored five runs between the sixth and seventh innings, the hardest thrower in the majors kept the game within reach by keeping the Orioles off balance. Miller threw nine sliders, all strikes, to Emmanuel Rivera, Ryan Mountcastle and Jeremiah Jackson. Each of his final eight pitches resulted in a swing-and-miss.
It was the first immaculate inning since Andrew Kittredge threw one for the Chicago Cubs last month, and just the second by a Padres pitcher; Brian Lawrence achieved the feat on June 12, 2002, also against the Orioles.
“How about that?” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “It would’ve been way better if we had a two-run lead, but good for Mason. He’s electric. His slider was unhittable.”
“Usually, after six (consecutive strikes) is when you start thinking about it a little bit,” said Miller, who had never thrown an immaculate inning at any level. “If they’re going to beat me, they’re going to beat me. But you don’t let you beat yourself.”
The Padres, during their recent slide, have frequently beaten themselves. Wednesday’s defeat marked their fifth loss in six games against a pair of teams that held fire sales in July.
“It’s tough to lose against teams that aren’t really in it,” Cortes said. “We’ve just got to … give length. I think if pitchers give length and we stay in the game, this offense has a chance to win every night. And if starting pitchers stay in the game as long as we can and turn it over to the bullpen, we’ve already seen what they can do.”
Shildt pointed out that the Padres had held a lead past the fifth inning just twice in the last 10 games — and that the team had won both of those games.
“We just got to get in this rhythm of, like, get that first (opposing) hitter and involve our defense … and then play with a little more rhythm and pace,” Shildt said. “It’s how we play the game. We just have not been able to get into any kind of good rhythm for the last 10 games. You know, those games happen, and you’ll sprinkle them in throughout the season, and you may have a couple that end up being consecutive. But the one thing I’m really comfortable and confident in — you know, we’re seeing a lot of them, but they’re done. I’m declaring them over.”
(Photo: Gregory Bull / Associated Press)