13 things you need to know about Germ¨¢n's perfect game
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Entering Wednesday, it had been 3,969 days since a perfect game had been thrown in the Major Leagues. In that time, there were 31 individual no-hitters and nine combined efforts, underscoring just how rare the perfect game is in baseball. Then, at 9:10 p.m. PT at the Oakland Coliseum, Yankees right-hander Domingo Germ¨¢n completed the 24th perfect game in AL/NL history.
Germ¨¢n struck out nine Athletics batters and threw 99 pitches to complete the feat in the Yankees¡¯ 11-0 victory. Here are 13 things to know about one of the most unlikely no-hitters in MLB history.
? A look at all 24 perfect games in AL/NL history
A historic night for a historic franchise
? This was the first perfect game since 2012, when there were a single-season-record three, culminating in F¨¦lix Hern¨¢ndez¡¯s on Aug. 15. That¡¯s the longest drought between perfect games since the span from Catfish Hunter¡¯s on May 8, 1968 for Oakland to Len Barker¡¯s for Cleveland on May 15, 1981.
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? It was the Yankees¡¯ fourth perfect game, breaking a tie at three with the White Sox for the most of any team. Germ¨¢n joins David Cone, David Wells and Don Larsen in those exclusive Yankees record books.
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? Germ¨¢n¡¯s perfect game was the third in the history of the Oakland Coliseum, tying that venue with the old Yankee Stadium for most in AL/NL history. The other two perfectos that took place at the Coliseum were thrown by Catfish Hunter (May 8, 1968 vs. the Twins) and Dallas Braden (May 9, 2010 vs. the Rays). Braden was on the call for the A¡¯s telecast during Germ¨¢n¡¯s perfect game.
? Somewhat lost in Germ¨¢n¡¯s performance was the rout the Yankees put on in support -- the 11 runs scored behind him are the most in any perfect game, topping the Giants¡¯ 10-0 victory in Matt Cain¡¯s. The only Yankees no-hitter with a larger margin of victory was the team¡¯s 13-0 win in Monte Pearson¡¯s on Aug. 27, 1938.
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Inside No. 24
? Germ¨¢n didn¡¯t just throw a perfect game; he also threw a Maddux -- a shutout in fewer than 100 pitches. Germ¨¢n threw 99 pitches, becoming the first pitcher to throw a Maddux in a perfect game -- a Madduxfecto, if you will -- since Philip Humber threw 96 pitches in his perfect game on April 21, 2012.
? 23 perfect games had been thrown in AL/NL history prior to Germ¨¢n¡¯s perfecto; none had been done by a pitcher born in the Dominican Republic. A native of San Pedro De Macoris, Germ¨¢n etched his name in history for a country that has produced some of the best talents in baseball history.
? In addition to becoming the first Dominican-born pitcher to throw a perfect game, Germ¨¢n also became the first Latino-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter for the Yankees -- an impressive feat for an organization that now has a dozen pitchers who¡¯ve pulled it off.
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? While no one is ever expecting to see a perfect game unfold, Germ¨¢n¡¯s seemed especially unlikely. In his previous start against the Mariners on June 22, he surrendered 10 runs on eight hits. That outing now has a place in history, because, of all 24 perfect games in AL/NL history, Germ¨¢n¡¯s is the first to come on the heels of a 10-plus run outing, per the Elias Sports Bureau.
Entering Wednesday, only two pitchers had given up six or more runs in the start preceding their perfect game -- Roy Halladay gave up seven on May 23, 2010, and David Cone gave up six on July 7, 1999. Just four previous no-hitters have followed 10+ run starts, the most recent before Germ¨¢n¡¯s being Bill Dietrich¡¯s on June 1, 1937.
? Tony Kemp provided one of the few threats to break through against Germ¨¢n. In the fourth inning, he drove a ball 349 feet to right field that was struck 91.7 mph off the bat and was caught near the warning track by Giancarlo Stanton. According to Statcast it would have been a home run at just one ballpark: Yankee Stadium.
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? Germ¨¢n became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter of any kind while wearing the number zero. He is one of four pitchers to ever have worn that number on the mound, along with Adam Ottavino, Marcus Stroman and Kent Emanuel.
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The long drought on the other side
? Prior to Wednesday, the A¡¯s owned the longest active streak among Major League teams without being no-hit. The last time a team no-hit the A¡¯s was on July 13, 1991, when four Orioles pitchers combined to blank Oakland at the Coliseum in a 2-0 victory. The streak of 5,010 games without being no-hit was the longest since the Reds went 7,109 games between no-hitters from June 24, 1971 to April 20, 2016, according to Elias Sports Bureau research. The longest active streak now belongs to the Nationals/Expos franchise, whose run extends back to David Cone¡¯s perfect game on July 18, 1999.
? The last individual no-hitter against the A¡¯s was thrown by none other than the no-hit king, Nolan Ryan, on June 11, 1990 in Oakland. It was the sixth of Ryan¡¯s MLB record seven no-hitters. Ryan walked two and struck out 14 on 130 pitches.
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? Despite their long layoff between no-hitters, the A¡¯s have been in this position once before. Before Germ¨¢n, the last pitcher to complete a perfect game against the A¡¯s was -- if you can believe it -- Cy Young, on May 5, 1904.