With bids for no-hitters and perfect plays, conventional baseball superstition dictates that the pitcher throwing the gem should not be disturbed. Teammates and coaches shy away.
But after Domingo Germán hit a seventh perfect inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake sat next to him and chatted.
The break with tradition played no role. Germán beat the next six batsmen in order of athletics and threw the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball history in an 11-0 win.
“So exciting,” said Germán during an on-pitch interview after the game in Spanish through an interpreter. “When you think of something very unique in baseball. Not many people have the opportunity to present a perfect game and achieve something like that.”
After a relative flurry of these — two in 2010 and three in 2012 — it had been nearly eleven years since Seattle Mariners star Félix Hernández threw the last perfect game.
Germán, who came into the game with a 5.10 ERA this season, remained flawless even after lengthy delays in the dugout as his team scored six runs early in the fifth inning; when the Oakland pitcher left with an injury in the seventh game; and as the Yankees hit more runs in the ninth game. And he maintained his rhythm with two outs late in the eighth when a ball escaped Oakland’s bullpen and momentarily disrupted his matchup with Jonah Bride.
The modest crowd of 12,479 in Oakland, Calif., stood as Germán emerged to start the ninth inning and chanted “Let’s Go, Yankees” as he faced the first batter of the inning.
Germán completed the perfect play by grounding out fast Oakland outfielder Esteury Ruiz. He recorded nine of the 27 outs per strikeout and finished just under 100 pitches.
“The last inning was very different,” said Germán. “I felt a pressure I’ve never felt before.”
He continued, “So much pressure, yet so rewarding.”
Germán dedicated the performance to his uncle, who died two days ago and who “was always someone who brought a lot of joy to our family”.
“I cried a lot yesterday,” he said. “I had him with me the whole game.”
Subsequently, teammates doused Germán in a cooler during his television interview and he posed for photos with the cue ball and its catcher, Kyle Higashioka, and then with the rest of his teammates.
It was the fourth perfect game in Yankees history, following Don Larsens in the 1956 World Series, David Wells’s in 1998 and David Cones in 1999. It was also the second Yankee no-hitter in the past three seasons, according to a performance by Corey in 2021 Kluber against the Texas Rangers. Higashioka was behind the plate in both games.
Germán came on about 40 percent of the time this season and threw his curveball, even more than his fastball, and Higashioka said it was a key throw on Wednesday as Germán used it to record 20 of his 27 outs.
“He was fantastic tonight and deserves all the credit,” said Higashioka.
The masterpiece of a game was by far the highest point in an uneven season for Germán. He was suspended for ten games in mid-May for violating league rules against using foreign substances on the ball. He’s had strong performances, like conceding just one run for 8 ⅓ innings against Cleveland last month. But his last two starts have been far from that feat, delivering 15 earned runs over 5 ⅓ innings against Boston and Seattle.
The uneven season is nothing new for Germán. During his more than six years with the majors, he experienced bouts of success and failure, dealing with multiple injuries and serving an 81-game suspension, part and all of the 2019 season, for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy Year 2020 included.
But for one night in Oakland, he held it all together. He said he thought about perfection throughout Wednesday’s game. And in the end nobody could touch him.