The 24th perfect game in MLB history is finally in the history books. New York Yankees righty Domingo German flawlessly broke the 11-year drought Wednesday night against the Oakland Athletics.
German became the first pitcher born in the Dominican Republic to throw a perfect game.
Over the past two starts, German has been anything but perfect. In two starts against the Boston Red Sox, and the Seattle Mariners, German didn’t make it out of the fourth in either game. He gave up 15 earned runs in just 5.1 innings pitched in those two games. Getting booed off the field by the brutal Yankee fans as Aaron Boone took him out.
Fans were surprised to see German stay in the rotation after the eight-hit, eight-run, three-inning performance against the Mariners.
Adding on to this roller coaster year, German served a 10-game suspension for violating the MLB’s Sticky Substance policies in May.
Fans of the MLB in the early 2010s were spoiled with perfection. Twice in 2010, and three times in 2011. But after ‘King’ Felix Hernandez went 27 outs in August of 2011, the MLB hasn’t seen another pitcher reach perfection.
Until a struggling German took the bump against the Oakland Athletics.
It took German only 99 pitches to get 27 straight outs. A masterful performance, striking out nine in the process. His curveball was outstanding. Coming into the game German threw his breaking ball 40% of the time.
The pitch was buckling the knees of Athletic players all night, recording 20 of the 27 outs via the curve.
German also broke the only positive streak the A’s had going for them. Oakland had not been no-hit since 1991, the longest streak in baseball by far. The torch now gets passed to the Washington Nationals, who haven’t been no-hit since they were the Montreal Expos in 1998.
A perfect game is a unique sign for the Yankees. German just threw the fourth perfect game in Yankees history, the most out of any team.
In 1956 Don Larson threw the only perfect game in World Series history, as they beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in six games. David Wells threw the second in franchise history in May of 1998. The Yankees swept the Padres in the World Series. The following year, David Cone was perfect against the Expos. (Which was the last time they were no-hit,) and the Yankees repeated in the World Series, this time sweeping the Atlanta Braves.
Will the streak continue? The boys in the Bronx hope so. It’s been 14 years since the Yankees have been on top, and the bleacher creatures are getting anxious.
