History was made last night in MLB. At Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Domingo German threw the 24th perfect game in MLB history. It was the first since 2012, when Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners accomplished the feat. There’s usually some unique history that comes with throwing a perfect game, since the feat is so rare, but this perfect game came with a ton of historic aspects to it. German became the first Dominican born player to ever throw a perfect game. The New York Yankees now lead the entire with 4 perfect games in their history, breaking a tie with the Chicago White Sox. The Yankees won the game 11-0 last night. The 11 runs scored are the most ever scored in a perfect game. German is the 3rd player born outside the USA to pitch a perfect game, joining Felix Hernandez of Venezuela and Dennis Martinez of Nicaragua. However, this next stat just might be the most impressive. On June 22nd, he faced the Seattle Mariners. He gave up 10 runs in the game. He’s the first player in MLB history to throw a perfect game after allowing 10 runs or more in his previous start. Talk about a stat that may never be broken!
The last stat just goes to show that you never know what you’ll see when you go to the ballpark. It also shows that every single start and every single day is completely different. German was terrible in his last two starts before last night, giving up 15 earned runs in just 5.1 innings! Adversity can hit at any moment, but it doesn’t have to impact how you perform moving forward. German was able to put two terrible starts behind him and pitch perfectly when his team needed him to step up. There’s a powerful lesson for all of us to keep in mind moving forward, both on the field and off.