Traditional baseball myths dictate that a pitcher should not interfere with the pitcher’s pitch when aiming for a no-hitter or a perfect game. Teammates and coaches shy away.
But after Domingo German pitched seven complete innings Wednesday at the Oakland Coliseum, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake sat next to him and chatted.
Breaking tradition was not the problem. Gelman struck out the Athletics’ next six hitters for the 24th perfect game in major league history in an 11-0 win.
“It’s very exciting,” Gelman said in Spanish through an interpreter in an on-field interview with YES Network after the game. “When you think about something so unique in baseball. Not many people have the chance to pitch a perfect game and achieve something like this.”
After relatively frequent games (two in 2010 and three in 2012), Seattle Mariners star Felix Hernandez is the latest major league pitcher to pitch all 27 opponents’ hitters without allowing a run. Nearly 11 years had passed since he achieved a perfect match. First base runner.
Gelman, who entered the game with a 5.10 ERA this season, remained unscathed after a long delay in the dugout as his team scored six in the top of the fifth. when the Oakland pitcher left with an injury in the seventh inning. And when the Yankees scored more in the ninth inning. He maintained his rhythm in the bottom of the eighth with two outs, but the ball slipped out of Oakland’s bullpen, suspending his match with Jonah Blyde.
A modest crowd of 12,479 in Oakland, Calif., rose to their feet as Gelman appeared in the 9th inning and yelled “Let’s go, Yankees” as he faced the first hitter of the inning.
Gelman lured a ground out from Oakland’s fast-footed outfielder Estrie Ruiz to join the club with Hernández, whom he called his childhood idol, and achieved a perfect game.
“That finale was totally different, totally different,” Gelman said. “I feel more pressure than I have ever felt before. I try to visualize what I want to do there.
He continued, “There was a lot of pressure, but it was still very rewarding.”
Gelman dedicated the performance to his uncle, who died two days earlier. His uncle was “a man who always brought great joy to our family.”
“I cried a lot yesterday,” he said. “I was with him the whole game.”
Later, during a TV interview, a teammate gave Gelman a cooler, and Gelman took a picture with the game ball, catcher Kyle Higashioka, and other teammates.
It was the fourth perfect game in Yankees history after Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series, David Wells in 1998 and David Cohn in 1999. It also became the second Yankees no-hitter in the last three seasons, after Cory in 2021. Kluber vs Texas Rangers. Higashioka was at bat in both games.
Gelman has been throwing a curveball about 40 percent of the time this season, even more than a fastball, and Higashioka said Wednesday that it was the curveball that allowed Gelman to record 20 of 27 outs. “It was an important pitch,” he said.
“He was amazing tonight and he deserves all the praise,” Higashioka said.
The spectacular game was the highest score so far in what has been an uneven season for German. He was suspended for 10 games in mid-May for violating league rules regarding the use of objects on the ball. He’s put together strong games, like he did last month against Cleveland when he allowed only one run in eight innings. But his last two starts have been far from that, with 15 earned runs in the fifth and third innings against Boston and Seattle.
An irregular season is nothing new for Germany. Throughout his six-plus years in the majors, he had periods of success and failure, dealt with multiple injuries, and appeared in 81 games, including part of the 2019 season and all of 2020, due to violations of MLB’s domestic violence policy. received a suspension.
But for just one night in Auckland, he put it all together. He said he was thinking about perfection all through Wednesday’s game. And in the end, no one could touch him.
