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Diamondbacks Prospect Strikes Out Five Batters in a Single Inning
Jhosmer Alvarez pulled off the rare feat against the Inland Empire 66ers.
The 1,922 fans who showed up to Tuesday’s Class A game between the Visalia Rawhide and Inland Empire 66ers got to see something very few baseball fans have ever seen.
In the top of the seventh inning, Visalia pitcher Jhosmer Alvarez struck out an improbable five batters. Yes, you read that right. Five strikeouts in one inning.
Here's the sequence of events. Alvarez struck out Kevyn Castillo looking. Then he got Dario Laverde to chase a pitch in the dirt for strike three, but the ball got away from the catcher, allowing Laverde to reach first safely. The third strikeout of the inning came when he got Caleb Bartolero swinging.
Capri Ortiz became the fourth K victim of the inning when he whiffed on a pitch way outside the zone. The ball sailed to the backstop, allowing Ortiz to reach first safely and the tying run to score from third. Joe Redfield became the fifth and final strikeout of the inning when Alvarez fooled him with a breaking ball.
Alvarez also struck out the first batter he faced in the eighth inning but was pulled after allowing a double to the next batter, meaning he was credited with six strikeouts in only one inning of work.
According to MiLB.com, Alvarez is the fifth pitcher in minor league history to strike out five batters in an inning. The feat was accomplished most recently by Malcolm Van Buren of the rookie level Burlington Royals in 2019. It has never happened in the majors.
