New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán stepped into history books on Wednesday evening when he threw the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) history.
Winning 11-0 against the Oakland Athletics, Germán was outstanding as the A’s failed to reach first base during the entire game. Per CBS Sports:
He struck out nine and wasn’t really even seriously threatened by the lackluster A’s offense. He repeatedly worked ahead in the count and allowed mostly soft contact when he wasn’t missing bats. There were a few quality defensive plays, notably by first baseman Anthony Rizzo, but this one was all Germán.
It had been a while since the last perfect game in Major League Baseball. Through we’ve seen our share of no-hitters since then, the most recent perfect game came in 2012, when Félix Hernández of the Mariners accomplished the feat on Aug. 15. It was actually the third one that season, as Matt Cain and Philip Humber also accomplished the feat.
The most recent Yankees perfect game came on July 18, 1999 when David Cone did it. David Wells (1998) and Don Larsen (the 1956 World Series) have also thrown perfect games with the Yankees.
No-hitters in which the opposing team reaches base on an error, base-on-balls, or Hit-by-pitch, occur fairly frequently. As many as four were pitched
in the previous season.
Domingo Germán pitches the first perfect game since 2012! pic.twitter.com/PWqwsDCh2B
— MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2023
Germán proved to be a bit of a dark horse candidate to throw a perfect game given that his career came to a brief standstill following domestic violence allegations involving his girlfriend in 2019. He was subsequently given an 81-game suspension.
“My office has completed its investigation into the allegations that Domingo German violated Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement at the time. “Having reviewed all of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. German violated our Policy and that discipline is appropriate.”
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.