Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale had an immaculate inning in the eighth inning on Wednesday, needing just nine pitches to strike out the side at the Kansas City Royals.

Sale finished it off with a 98 mph fastball to strike out catcher Martin Maldonado. He started the inning by striking out Kelvin Gutierrez and Nicky Lopez.

It was Sale's second immaculate inning of the year. He also completed the feat on May 8 at the Baltimore Orioles.

Sale is the only active pitcher to throw multiple immaculate innings in the same season, and he joins Max Scherzer as the only active players to throw more than one immaculate inning in their career, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.

It was vintage Sale on Wednesday, as he threw a three-hit shutout while striking out 12 without a walk in Boston's 8-0 victory. It was his seventh game with at least 10 strikeouts this season, the most in the majors.

"Any time you can finish a game, that's what you sign up for,'' said Sale. "I've never started a game I didn't intend to finish.''

Sale, who has suffered through a lack of run support, improved to 2-7 on the season.

"That was one of his best,'' Red Sox manager Alex Cora said about Sale's outing.

The Red Sox beat the White Sox 6-1 in Chicago on May 3, the only other Sale start this season in which Boston scored six or more runs.

Wednesday was Sale's 36th game with at least 10 strikeouts since joining Boston in 2017. Only Scherzer (37) has more such games over that span.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.