Domingo German of the New York Yankees pitched the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, retiring every Oakland batter in an 11-0 victory over the Athletics yesterday.
It was the first perfect game since Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez threw one against the Tampa Bay Rays on August 15, 2012.
German joined Don Larsen (1956), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) as Yankees pitchers to throw perfect games.
Coming off a pair of terrible starts, the 30-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic struck out nine from the team with the worst record in the majors.
German had never thrown a complete game in seven seasons in the big leagues. He served a 10-game suspension in May after getting ejected from a game for using an illegal sticky substance on the mound.
Winless in six previous outings against Oakland, German threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes. He mixed 51 curveballs and 30 fastballs with 17 changeups and one sinker.
With the Oakland crowd of 12,479 on its feet for the ninth inning, German got Aledmys Diaz to ground out before Shea Lanegeliers flied out at centerfield. When Esteury Ruiz grounded out to end it, New York players raced out to the mound to celebrate.
Seth Brown came the closest to reaching base for the A's, hitting a sharp grounder in the fifth to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who made a diving stop and tossed to German for the out.
