What a way to make history! The New York Yankees just had their 4th-ever perfect game from one of their pitchers as Domingo German completely blanked the Oakland Athletics for a fantastic 11-0 victory.
I know it’s only against the Athletics, but the Yankees are making history left, right, and center these days.
Despite having a substandard season, Yankees pitcher Domingo German pitched the first perfect game by any pitcher in the league in over a decade as he blanked the Oakland Athletics 11-0 in one of the most remarkable pitching performances we’ve seen. And, even though it was against the lowly Athletics, this is still a magnificent achievement.
Do know who was the last pitcher to throw a perfect game in Yankees history? A team with 27 World Series titles, more Hall of Fame than you can count, and more playoff appearances than there are people in the state of Wyoming? It was David Cone in 1999 against the Montreal Expos, a team that no longer exists and was resurrected as the Washington Nationals in 2005, as the Yankees won 6-0.
Yes, it’s been nearly a quarter of a century since a Yankees pitcher has last thrown a perfect game, while it’s been 11 years since any player in the MLB last pitched the great achievement with Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Felix Hernandez last achieving the feat August 12, 2012, against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Now, this Oakland team isn’t anywhere near as good as the 2012 Tampa Bay Rays (they went on to win 90 games), but you can see how rare an achievement like this truly is. And it’s even rarer and more exciting that Domingo German, a player who has struggled all season long, was the one to match the record.
Coming into the night, German had really poor stats by the standards of a starting New York Yankees pitcher as his record was 4-5, he had an ERA of 5.10, he had given up 60 hits, 45 runs (2nd most on Yankees), 41 earned runs (most on Yankees), 15 home runs (most on Yankees), and forced 68 strikeouts (3rd most on Yankees) in 72.1 innings (3rd most on Yankees).
And, along with a 10-game suspension for using a foreign/sticky substance on his glove earlier this season, I don’t think anyone in their wildest dreams would have imagined German was about to pitch a perfect game against the A’s. But that’s exactly what he did.
Allowing 0 hits, 0 runs, o ERs, 0 walks, 0 batters struck, 0 home runs, and forcing 9 strikeouts, German completely blanked the Athletics batting order as they simply couldn’t buy a base hit off German. Now, the A’s not being able to buy a hit shouldn’t be too shocking given how bad this team is, but to get completely blanked by an opposing pitcher is truly a new low for the team.
And, to top it all off, the Yankees batting order went to town as they scored 11 runs, had 9 hits, 9 RBIs, and a home run to cap off the 11-0 victory.
I’m glad the A’s fans were cheering and applauding German during the 9th inning as he got his final three outs, but how low are the Athletics going to hit before they ditch town and pack their bags for Las Vegas. It must be absolute torture for these Oakland fans having to show up and watch a team that not only is rock bottom of the league (and now giving up perfect games), but who’s also blatantly bidding their time for the Las Vegas move before becoming a contender again.
Anyways, congratulations, Domingo German, for pitching the first perfect game in the MLB since the early 2010’s. Now go and do that every game as the Yankees need as many perfect games as they can get if they want a glimpse of a 28th World Series title this year.
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