Domingo, the Yankees pitcher makes the 24th “perfect game” in MLB

Domingo German had been less than perfect in six major league years. But Wednesday night he had the mother of all satisfactions on the Oakland diamond where he finished 11-0 for his NY Yankees. The Dominican became, overnight, the perfect pitcher, the 24th in history and the fourth in the franchise with the most titles and traditions after Don Larsen (1956), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) to make precisely the “perfect game”, that is, he retired, eliminated all 27 batters over the course of 9 innings, the length of a baseball game. The last one to do so was Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernández against Tampa on August 15, 2012 (there were three that season). German was also the first no-hitter this season. Larsen’s gem, for importance, came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Forever

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The Latin pitcher gets help from the translator to underline how happy he was, two days after the death of an uncle to whom he dedicated the feat. “It was so exciting: When you think of something very unique in baseball, not many people have the opportunity to pitch a perfect game. Doing something like this in my career is something I will always remember.” After a couple of bad starts, German (his score 5-5) struck out nine of 27 batters against the A’s, who currently have the worst record in the majors at 21-61. The 30-year-old pitcher served a 10-game suspension a month ago after being ejected in a game in Toronto for using an illicit substance on the mound. He was also suspended 81 games early in his career for an alleged domestic violence incident. A complete match of him dated back to April 2017 in Doubles at Trenton. In his previous six games with Oaklan he had never won. This time he made 72 strikes on 99 pitches distributed as follows: 51 curves, 30 fast with an average of 92.5 miles, with 17 changes and a sinker sinker. He twice went on the count with 3 balls and a strike in the 4th and 8th innings, in all borderline situations he got away with no damage. “It was so fun to watch him work, dominate the mound, his curveball was amazing indeed special,” said Aaron Boone, manager of the Yankees. Seth Brown was the closest to getting on base with a groundout to fifth stop diving off first baseman Anthony Rizzo to a rapturous crowd of 12,479. Finally “the last inning – he says – was very different, very different. I felt a pressure never felt before, I visualized the strike area and I didn’t want to make a mistake. But it was a rewarding pressure.” Tony Kemp, the best of the Californians, revealed that “German’s corner was truly impregnable, he sent the speed where he wanted, ditto the gearbox. He just mixed them”. In a perfect way.

500th strikeout

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Six days after allowing a career-high 10 runs (eight earned) and hitting four home runs in 3 and a third innings, in a home loss to Seattle, German had his 500th career strikeout. “This hasn’t been an easy week or time for him,” Boone recalled. “He painted a masterpiece: funny”. It also became the Yankees’ 13th no-hitter after Corey Kluber against the Texas Rangers on May 19, 2021. German wears a zero: Never has that number been more appropriate. “I’m just happy for Domingo. He had a rough start,” recalls Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka. “I always felt ready for something like this, I almost believed it.” German’s breakthrough after 18-4 in 2019 with the Yankees was his suspension for an alleged episode of domestic violence against his girlfriend. He missed the entire pandemic-shortened 2020 season, including the playoffs. Then in February 2021 he wanted to meet his teammates and apologize publicly during spring training.

A player found

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Now he is a player found: “Unfortunately two days ago my uncle passed away and yesterday I cried a lot in the clubhouse. He was with me throughout the game, I thought a lot about him and this perfect game is a tribute to him: he would have been so happy and proud of me. He always brought joy to my family. He will have seen my game the same way, from up there”

Teams

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Thanks to him, the Yankees became the first franchise with 4 perfect games (the Chicago White Sox have three). The Coliseum was like Yankee Stadium the only ballpark where 3 perfect games were produced. Erd since 5063 games Oakland went scoreless: By four Baltimore pitchers in July 1991. Now the Washington Nationals holds the longest active streak in the Majors at 3812 games (including playoffs) since David Cone was perfect against the Montreal Expos at Yankee Stadium in July 1999. History repeats itself…