The Atlanta Braves have been playing some of their most complete baseball over the last few days, which continued on Tuesday night in Arizona. The Braves benefitted from another great start from Chris Sale and the offense's ability to score five runs on Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen.
Atlanta won the second game of their four-game series in Phoenix which secured the team's fourth straight win with a 6-2 victory. Adam Duvall continued his hot streak with a massive three-run homer in the sixth inning. Duvall has a .310 average over his last 11 games with 13 hits including four doubles, two homers, seven RBI, and a .903 OPS.
As impressive as his hot streak has been, lefty reliever AJ Minter may have stolen the spotlight when he accomplished a rare feat in the bottom of the ninth inning.
It only took Minter three pitches to record the final three outs of Tuesday night's contest. Minter took advantage of an aggressive Diamondbacks offense and induced three groundouts. It even surprised AJ as he flashed the number three at his teammates after recording the final out.
Peak levels of pitching efficiency 🎚️
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) July 10, 2024
A.J. Minter's three-pitch ninth inning. pic.twitter.com/6AmPix0Atb
Austin Riley made an incredible play on a tough in-between hop to third base for the second out, leading to speculation from the Atlanta television booth. Braves commentator CJ Nitkowski asked his counterpart, Brandon Gaudin, "Three-pitch inning?" and immediately exclaimed "Oh my goodness. He did it!" when Minter completed the task.
Minter became the first Atlanta Braves pitcher to accomplish this feat since John Smoltz did so in 2005 against the Cubs. According to Braves insider Kevin McAlpin, the only other pitchers in franchise history to accomplish this are Greg Maddux and Odalis Perez.
As far as I can tell, AJ Minter is the first #Braves pitcher with a three pitch inning since John Smoltz (7/7/2005).
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) July 10, 2024
Greg Maddux (5/3/2000; 7/2/1999) and Odalis Perez (5/28/1999) are the only others in franchise history to accomplish the feat.
Furthermore, according to Baseball Almanac, this has only been accomplished by 118 National League pitchers. It has happened twice in 2024 with Minter's outing last night and NL East rival Aaron Nola completing the feat against the Mets in May.
Yankees reliever Clayton Beeter also accomplished a three-pitch, three-out inning against the Astros on March 29, 2024. This phenomenon has occurred 86 times in the American League which when combined with the NL numbers, has only taken place 204 times in MLB history.
The Baseball Almanac provides a disclaimer for the number stating, "The list below is far from being comprehensive. As mentioned above, pitch counts are not officially recorded so each of these instances has been found by Baseball Almanac when it was mentioned in a newspaper story, or article (sources include Baseball Digest, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune & The Sporting News) accompanying the box score."
So, there could be some discrepancy with the amount of times a pitcher has done this. However, it doesn't make it any less impressive or exciting to witness. Minter has a 2.59 ERA through 24.1 innings with six walks and 25 strikeouts this season.
Braves fans should relish in the moment as it took almost two decades for an Atlanta pitcher to accomplish this. It could be decades before it happens again.