Perfect Games in the 21st Century
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On June 28th, 2023, Domingo German did something that only 23 other men have officially done in baseball history, throw a perfect game. For the first time since 2012, when three perfect games were thrown, 27 men were retired in order, and it happened at the Oakland Coliseum, the third time it has occurred there. As it is such a rare occurrence, it feels fitting to discuss the other perfect games that have taken place during this new century.
Randy Johnson - May 18th, 2004
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This game was truly perfect as not only Randy Johnson was perfect against a potent Atlanta Braves line up, but also his incredible defense behind him. Jesse Garcia made a bunt attempt up the first base side, pulling Shea Hillenbrand off the bag, with the only play diving toward Garcia and tagging him for the out.
After a long fly ball from Andrew Jones in the second, Johnny Estrada reached an 11-pitch at-bat before striking out on a slider down.
In the third, Mark DeRosa hit a ball to the warning track but was caught by the right fielder Danny Bautista. The very next batter Nick Green grounded slowly to the shortstop Alex Cintrón for a bang-bang play at first.
The ageless wonder Julio Franco hit another ball short of the track in the fourth but was caught by center field Steve Finley.
The fifth inning was nothing but line drives to the outfielders, with the third out being a basket catch from Danny Bautista.
The six had another set of great plays, a chopper to the third baseman Chad Tracy was picked cleanly to throw out Mark DeRosa, and of all players Mike Hampton the pitcher, hit an even slower ball to Alex Cintrón and again another bang-bang play at first.
Thankfully after that, all the plays became either groundouts to the second baseman Matt Kata, flyouts, or as usual a strikeout from Randy Johnson who ended the perfect game with a strikeout of Eddie Perez, his 13th on the night, becoming the oldest pitcher to ever throw a perfect game at 40 years old.
Mark Buehrle - July 23rd, 2009
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Just a few years earlier, Mark Buehrle threw a no-hitter on a cold evening in April of 2007, facing the minimum batters after a fifth-inning walk and subsequent pick off of Sammy Sosa became the only baserunner. Two years later against the Tampa Bay Rays, he found himself on the doorstep of history once again, this time no walks, but facing current Giants manager Gabe Kepler and well you know the rest.
Dewayne Wise makes a brilliant robbing catch that White Sox Broadcaster Hawk Harrelson called the great catch he saw under the circumstances.
Lost in it all was a near walk to Michel Hernandez, forcing Hawk to draw silent as Buehrle came back to strike him out and got Jason Bartlett to ground out to end the game.
Notable catches were Jermaine Dye in the second, going to the track to rob Pat Burrell of a hit. Gabe Kepler had another line out in the top of the third to left fielder Carlos Quinten and a soft ground ball from Michel Hernandez to Alexei Ramirez for the second out. Ben Zobrist hit a ball to the right of Ramirez but was able to fire a strike to first baseman Josh Fields for the out.
Again this was a game perfect on both sides, with Buehrle and his defense.
Notable Fact: Buehrle retired the next 17 batters he faced, bringing him to 45 consecutive batters retired, later eclipses by Yusmeiro Petit.
Dallas Braden - Mother’s Day May 9th, 2010
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Dallas Braden lost his mother when he was in High School to Cancer, so the day was extra special to him as well as others around the league who adopted pink bats and armbands. So to say a perfect game was the best possible present he could give to his grandmother Peggy Linsday is an understatement. In fact, this was one of the relatively easier perfect games pitched. Outside of a couple of line outs and a 3-1 count on the final batter, no batter came close to a hit against Braden. It’s also worth noting that this was the Tampa Bay Rays once again finding themselves on the wrong end of a perfect game.
In fact, Braden recounted the final out in a podcast that he himself thought it was a 2-2 count, instead of 3-1 and decided to throw a changeup that was up in the zone but good enough for Gabe Kapler, the near hero of Buehrle’s perfecto, grounded out to shortstop Cliff Pennington to end the game.
Roy Halladay - May 29th, 2010
CSNPhilly
No person has a perfect life, but we can have a perfect night, as in the case of Philadelphia Phillies Ace Roy Halladay one humid evening in late May of 2010. Roy Halladay was no stranger to a no-hit bid. In his second-ever start, he twirled 8 2/3 no-hit innings before allowing a home run against the Detroit Tigers in 1998. It took twelve years before an even better start came about against the Marlins.
The Marlins themselves were hosting a concert after the game, so they gave out tambourines as a gift to those who showed up, but it was all overshadowed by nine innings of dominance from a man dubbed “Doc”.
In a start reminisce of Randy Johnson’s, the defense was key for Halladay in this performance. Specifically, in the fifth where the second baseman Chase Utley got to a ball going to his left for a putout at first. Shortstop Wilson Valdez used all his arm muscle to beat out a speedy Cameron Maybin at first in the six, and Juan Castro in the eight, getting a live drive bounce towards him but snared it and threw to first to retire Jorge Cantu.
There were some questionable calls from the home plate umpire Mike DiMuro. Several Marlins hitters were left stunned, specifically Hanley Ramirez who struck out twice on two pitches that looked to be inside but called strikes. Halladay worked seven three-ball counts, six being full counts, but in some shape or form, Halladay retired the hitters.
On his 115 pitch, Ronny Paulino grounded out hard to Juan Castro and threw a little high to first, but the out was made, and the Phillies surrounded Halladay, near the mound, completing the second perfect game in Phillies history. However the celebration was short-lived as the Marlins still had to host the concert, so they were quickly escorted from the field.
A perfect night for an imperfect man, who later went on to throw another no-hitter, this time in the postseason.
Rest In Peace Doc
Armando Galarraga - June 2nd, 2010
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You knew this one was coming and enough has been said about it. However, plays made in this game made the bid even more special.
First, Galarraga only struck out three batters and utilized every bit of the field to help in this bid. Miguel Cabrera made a catch on a live drive in the first. Second baseman Carlos Guillen ran to catch a falling looper into short right in the second. Ramon Santiago got to a ball deep in the hole at short but was able to throw out the slow-running Mike Redmond.
The second most impressive play came off a batted ball from Russell Branyan, who hit a ground ball that deflected off of Galarraga’s foot, but towards the third baseman Brandon Inge who threw to first for the out.
Finally, the great play of the game came from the glove of the center fielder Austin Jackson. On the first pitch in the top of the ninth, Mark Grudzielanek drilled a ball for what would have been extra bases into the left-center field gap. However, with Jackson’s speed, he was able to make a Willie Mays style catch to rob Grudzielanek of a hit. Then the calamity struck, and it's safe to say no one was perfect in this final play.
Jason Donald grounded a ball perfectly placed for the second baseman, however, Miguel Cabrera decided to go for the ball. This made the play more difficult as Armando had to beat the speedy Donald to the bag. Cabrera had to set and pivot the throw to first, right as Galarraga’s foot touched the bag, three feet before Donald. For a split second, it seemed Jim Joyce would call out, as did everyone in the stadium, however, that spilt second changed history as he signaled safe to a crowd of boos.
Jim Leyland came to make his case, but Jim Joyce didn’t reverse his decision. Galarraga took it all with a smile and ended up making Trevor Crowe ground out to end the game, all the while the crowd was chirping and Leyland was livid. Once the game had ended, everyone expressed their disappointment, and it wasn’t until Jim Joyce saw the replay that he realized he made a mistake.
This would have broken the record for least amount of games between perfect games, the previous record was five, this would have made it four.
This game makes this list as if there had been replay, he would have been out, and it wouldn't have made this list complete.
Philip Humber - April 21st, 2012
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Philip Humber’s name often pops up in lists for most unlikely no-hitters. It was only his 30 career start and the only complete game of his career. He was an average pitcher who came and went like so many before and after him, yet on one afternoon against the Mariners, his name was etched in the history books.
The game itself was a lot similar to Dallas Braden’s outing back in 2010. No one really came close to a hit. A mixture of strikeouts, groundballs, and flyouts spread around the afternoon in Seattle. The only close play came in the 4th off a Dustin Ackley line drive to outfielder Alex Rios
A funny note about this game is that while it was aired on Fox, most people tuning in only saw the Yankees vs Red Sox game, with only the Seattle and Chicago markets watching the game. In fact, it was the play-by-play announcer for the Mariners who called the game but had to remain impartial when announcing nationwide.
Most of the drama came in the ninth inning, where Humber fell behind 3-0 to Michael Saunders, before coming back to strike him out. After a John Jaso flyout came the debated part of the perfect game. Once again Humber went to a 3-2 count, this time on pinch hitter Brendan Ryan. On the payoff pitch, Humber threw a slider out of the zone, one where Ryan started to swing at, but was called a swing and the ball got away from Aj Pierzynski. Ryan argued the call, but in doing so gave Pierzynski enough time to throw down to first and secure the out for the perfect game.
The perfect game was the third in White Sox history and the first of three no-hitters thrown at Safeco Field that year.
Matt Cain - June 13th, 2012
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
A tell-all tale of no-hitters is that it must include at least one play that saved the game. So far Randy Johnson, Mark Buehrle, and Roy Halladay would fit the bill. Now came arguably the second-best perfect game ever thrown, and it was done by Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants.
Matt Cain up to that point had been having a career year. 9-3 with a 2.41 ERA coming into AT&T Park.
In the early stages of the game, it was near dominance from Cain. It wasn’t until the fourth that Jordan Schafer nearly hit the first base bag for a hit, but the first plate umpire called it foul.
In the sixth, Melky Cabrera tracked down a long fly ball hit off of Chris Snider but caught it at the track.
Yet the play, everyone talks about is Gregor Blanco’s catch in the seventh, robbing Jordan Schafer of a triple, going far to his left, and at the apex of his lunge, catching the ball near the warning track to secure at the time the perfect game.
Outside of a great play from Brandon Crawford to end the eighth, it all came down to Cain Vs Jason Castro. Castro grounded towards Joaquin Arias, peddling back on the play, needing to use his upper body to heave the baseball to first baseman Brandon Belt to secure the Perfect Game.
A couple of notes from the game: Matt Cain tied Sandy Koufax with 14 strikeouts. It was the most pitches thrown in a perfect game at 125. It was the first of six no-hitters that Jose Altuve has been apart of. Finally, it started a four year stretch where the Giants threw a no hitter each year from 2012 - 2015.
Felix Hernandez - August 15th, 2012
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Baseball is a random sport, one day you might get no-hit by a run-of-the-mill pitcher, and the next your ace takes the mound and throws one himself. It wasn’t quite the next day, but on a sunny afternoon in Seattle once again, the King threw the 23rd perfect game in baseball history.
Felix Hernandez had arguably the easiest perfect game on this list. Not once did Felix break a sweat during this game. He struck out 12 batters through the game with only 3 three-ball counts on the date, and struck out the side twice, notably in the ninth.
His immortal pose after striking out Sean Rodriguez for the final out, outlining a K while kissing his wrists. A notable accomplishment happened with the Rays. It was the third perfect game that they were on the losing end of in four seasons, with BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria tying the record for most perfect game losses with three.
Close but no cigars:
Outside of Armando Galarraga, four other pitchers came within an out of a perfect game and two others retired 27 pitchers after a leadoff hit.
Mike Mussina: September 2nd, 2001 vs Carl Everett Boston Red Sox
John Lackey: July 7th, 2006 vs Mark Kotsay Oakland Athletics
Yu Darvish: April 2nd, 2013 vs Marwin Gonzalez Houston Astros
Shelby Miller: May 10, 2013, vs Eric Young Jr Colorado Rockies
Yusmeiro Petit: September 6th, 2013 vs Eric Chavez Arizona Diamondbacks
Max Scherzer: June 10, 2015, vs Jose Tabata Pirates (Only pitcher on this list to get a no-hitter afterward)
