By IAN WILSON
It was an immaculate first impression from Calgary pitcher Michael Soroka.
The 6-foot-5 righthander made his Arizona Diamondbacks debut in dominating fashion by recording 10 strikeouts over five scoreless innings against the Detroit Tigers at Chase Field on March 30th.
Soroka yielded just four hits and one walk in his first game of the 2026 Major League Baseball (MLB) season and threw 60 of his 89 pitches for strikes. He capped off the night perfectly when he squared off against Javier Baez, Kerry Carpenter and Gleyber Torres in the fifth frame. Soroka just needed nine pitches to register three straight Ks against the trio.
The feat, known as an immaculate inning, marked the third time a Canadian had achieved such an accomplishment, and there have only been 120 recorded in total in MLB history.
“It was pretty special, obviously,” Soroka told reporters after he picked up the win in the 9-6 victory.
“I think I’ve talked to you guys about not putting too much stock in results but I think that’s one worth celebrating. It’s something I wasn’t really aware of until the last pitch.”
Added Soroka: “Pretty cool. I tried to play it off but started smiling off the field.”
In discussing his Arizona debut, the Calgary Redbirds product said his “slurve” – which combines a curveball with a slider – was working well. The offering was offset by his 94 mile-per-hour fastball and generated nine whiffs and 10 called strikes.
“It’s always been kind of my pitch,” Soroka told Sports Illustrated reporter Alex D’Agostino.
“It’s always been a hybrid. It’s always been at its best between (a curveball and a slider). I vary it a lot early in counts, sometimes dump one in there, a little more curveball-y. It just kind of switches up based on what I feel like the hitter looks at and where I’m feeling that day.”
Manager Torey Lovullo, who suited up for both the Calgary Cannons and Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League in the mid-1990s, offered praise for his newly acquired moundsman, who signed a one-year, $7.5-million deal with the Diamondbacks in December.
“It was a solid outing for him, and to be honest with you, I think there’s more in there. Ten punches is a lot and when you do it in your debut in front of new fans, you’re going to have a lot of really new supportive fans coming at you real quick, so we all need that here,” said Lovullo, adding that he didn’t realize the immaculate inning took place until pitching coach Brian Kaplan informed him.
Outfielder Corbin Carroll – who tripled, homered and produced four RBI for the D-backs in the win – said he was “very, very impressed” by Soroka.
“I remember facing (him) last year and thinking, ‘That’s a pretty good breaking ball.’ And I thought he pitched really well off that tonight, then did a good job of just filling up the zone and using all his pitches,” said Carroll.
Soroka’s 10 strikeouts matched a career high and also set a new record for a pitcher making their debut with the D-backs. The former first-round pick of the Atlanta Braves surpassed Randy Johnson and his nine punchouts that he posted in his first game with Arizona in 1999.
Now in his seventh MLB season, Soroka has appeared in 92 games. In that time, he’s turned in a 21-26 record, a 3.81 earned run average (ERA), and has piled up 389 Ks over 420-plus innings.
The Bishop Carroll High School graduate is also coming off a strong showing at the World Baseball Classic, where he made two starts for Canada and went 1-1 with three strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He picked up the win in the opening game against Colombia before losing against the United States in the WBC semifinal.
