New York Yankees starting pitcher Domingo German celebrates with teammates after pitching a perfect game against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on June 28, 2023. It was the first perfect game in MLB since 2012 and the fourth perfect game in franchise history.Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Since arriving in the big leagues six years ago, Domingo German has been anything but perfect.
Until now.
The New York Yankees right-hander pitched the 24th perfect game in major league history Wednesday night, retiring every Oakland batter in an 11-0 victory over the Athletics.
It was the first perfect game since Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez threw one against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 15, 2012. There were three that season – but none since until German finished the first no-hitter in the majors this year.
He joined Don Larsen (1956), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) as Yankees to pitch perfect games. Larsen’s gem came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
“So exciting,” German said through a translator. “When you think about something very unique in baseball, not many people have an opportunity to pitch a perfect game. To accomplish something like this in my career is something that I’m going to remember forever.”
Coming off a pair of terrible starts, German (5-5) struck out nine of 27 batters against the A’s, who have the worst record in the majors.
The 30-year-old German, a six-year veteran, served a 10-game suspension in May after getting ejected from a game in Toronto for using an illegal sticky substance on the mound. He had never thrown a complete game in the big leagues before.
Winless in six previous outings against Oakland, German threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes. He mixed 51 curveballs and 30 fastballs that averaged 92.5 mph with 17 changeups and one sinker.
He went to three balls on a batter just twice, falling behind Ryan Noda 3-1 in the fourth and Jonah Bride by the same count in the eighth. Noda struck out on consecutive curveballs, and German followed with three straight curves to Bride: one for a called strike, the next resulting in a foul ball and the third in a groundout.
“It was just so fun to watch him do that and go to work. We’ve seen him flirt with outings like that over time,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, thinking to when Boston’s Alex Verdugo broke up German’s no-hit bid in the eighth in July 2021.
“When he gets rolling like that he’s just so fun to watch at his craft because he’s so good at commanding all of his pitches. His curveball was great tonight, but because his changeup and his fastball were good, too, it made that curveball even more special.”
With the crowd of 12,479 on its feet for the ninth inning, German finished what he started. He got Aledmys Diaz to ground out before Shea Lanegeliers flied out to short centre field. When Esteury Ruiz grounded out to third baseman Josh Donaldson to end it, the Yankees’ dugout and bullpen emptied as German’s teammates raced out to the mound to celebrate.
“That last inning was very different – very different. I felt an amount of pressure that I’ve never felt before,” German said. “I’m trying to visualize what I want to execute there. At the same time, I don’t want to miss. So much pressure, but yet so rewarding.
“The key there was not to overthrow,” he added. “I was feeling the pressure in that inning but at the same time I wanted to not overthrow, keep that same focus from the first inning, understand the lanes of attack we were using during the game and keep executing.”
Six days after allowing a career-high 10 runs (eight earned) and four homers over 3 1/3 innings in a loss to the Mariners at home, German got his 500th career strikeout and was the definition of perfection.
It was the 13th no-hitter in Yankees history, including Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. Corey Kluber pitched their previous no-hitter against the Texas Rangers on May 19, 2021.
“I’m just happy for Domingo. He’s had a rough last couple starts and he’s kind of been dragging a little bit,” Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka said. “I kind of always felt like of anyone, he has a really good chance to do something like this and for it all to come together tonight is just amazing.”
It marked quite a personal turnaround for German, who went 18-4 in 2019 with the Yankees but was put on administrative leave late that season while Major League Baseball investigated an alleged domestic violence incident involving his girlfriend.
He missed the entire pandemic-shortened 2020 season and playoffs while serving an 81-game suspension for the incident, then met face-to-face with Yankees teammates and made a public apology at spring training when he returned to the team in February 2021.
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.
Giancarlo Stanton homered for the first time in more than two weeks and drove in three runs, and Donaldson added three RBIs against his former team to help the Yankees to their 15th win in 21 games against the A’s since Aug. 31, 2019.
Stanton crushed a 422-foot homer on a first-pitch fastball from former Yankees pitcher JP Sears (1-6) in the fourth. The ball was hit so hard that Ruiz in centre field and Brown in right didn’t move but just turned their heads and watched it sail out to left-centre.
Stanton added a two-run single off Shintaro Fujinami in the fifth when the Yankees scored six runs and benefited from two errors by the A’s.
Higashioka had an RBI double, then scored when Anthony Volpe reached on an infield single and Sears flipped the ball wildly into foul territory. Volpe took second on the error, stole third then scored on DJ LeMahieu’s single.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who walked leading off the inning and scored, capped the uprising with a two-out RBI single.
But the night belonged to German, who was loudly cheered as the game unfolded. Many fans in Oakland were decked out in Yankees colours or jerseys.
“Unfortunately, two days ago an uncle of mine passed away and I cried a lot yesterday in the clubhouse. So I had him with me throughout the whole game. I was thinking about him,” German said. “This game is a tribute to him. He would have been so happy. He was always someone that really brought a joy to our family and it happened for him to watch it this way, from up there.”