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Did You Know : Brandon Backe

Did you know that Brandon Backe is one of only 39 players in major league baseball history to strike out 3 batters in an inning on 9 pitches?  It's called the immaculate inning.

It's true, Brandon Backe did this on 4/15/04 against the Milwaukee Brewers in which he struck out Bill Hall, Scott Podsednik and Craig Counsell in the 8th inning of a 6-2 loss to the Brewers. 

Three other Astros have done this; Bob Bruce(when the Astros were the Colt .45s) on 4/19/64 against the Cardinals, Pete Harnisch on 9/6/91 against the Phillies and Mike Magnante on 8/22/97 against the Rockies. 

The Astros have had this done to them three times;  Trever Wilson of the Giants did it to Jeff Bagwell, Eric Anthony and Rafael Ramirez on 6/7/92, Jason Isringhausen did it to Daryle Ward, Jose Vizcaino and Julio Lugo on 4/13/02, and Ben Sheets did it to Pete Munro, Craig Biggio and Jose Vizcaino on 6/13/04.

Nolan Ryan has done this twice, but never with the Astros(once with the Mets and once with the Angels).

The Astros are one of three teams to have done this 4 times along with the Dodgers and Athletics.