Glew: Soroka tosses immaculate inning in D-Backs' regular season debut
Calgary Redbirds and Junior National Team grad Michael Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) tossed an immaculate innings in his regular season debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday. Photo: Arizona Diamondbacks
March 31, 2026
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Michael Soroka tossed an immaculate inning for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Detroit Tigers in his regular season debut with the club on Monday.
The 28-year-old right-hander struck out Javier Báez, Kerry Carpenter and Gleyber Torres on nine pitches in the fifth inning to close out his outing.
The D-Backs eventually won the game 9-6.
Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) became the first MLB pitcher in 2026 to throw an immaculate inning and just the third Canadian to do so. Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) tossed an immaculate fourth inning for the Miami Marlins against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 18, 2025.
The first Canadian to throw an immaculate inning was Rich Harden (Victoria, B.C.). He did it with the Oakland A’s in the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels on June 8, 2008.
There have been just 120 immaculate innings in MLB history.
Soroka also matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts and set a D-Backs’ franchise record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in their debut.
The Canuck righty limited the Tigers to four hits in five scoreless innings to pick up the win. It was the D-Backs’ first victory of the season.
Earlier this month, Soroka made two starts for Canada at the World Baseball Classic, including registering the win in their opening game against Colombia.
Soroka signed a one-year, $7.5-million contract with the Diamondbacks in December.
The Diamondbacks are his fifth major league team.
In 2025 with the Washington Nationals, Soroka posted a 3-8 record and a 4.87 ERA, while striking out 87 batters in 81 1/3 innings. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs on July 31 and made one start with them before suffering a shoulder strain which sidelined him for almost six weeks. Upon his return, the Cubs used him exclusively as a reliever.
In all, Soroka has pitched in parts of seven major league seasons.