Yankees' Domingo German throws perfect game vs. A's

OAKLAND, Calif. — Domingo German, about the furthest thing from perfect in his previous two starts, was the definition of it Wednesday night.

Throwing the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball history and fourth in Yankees history, German completely dominated the A’s in  an 11-0 victory in front of 12,479 at Oakland Coliseum.

“Without words. Not much I can say, really,” German, with a wide smile, said through his interpreter.

Pitch-efficient throughout, German, aided by a filthy curveball and also in total control with his changeup and fastball, had 17 swings-and-misses and struck out nine. He went to a three-ball count on only two batters,  needed only six pitches to get through the ninth inning and finished with 99 (72 strikes). The A's went 0-for-19 with eight strikeouts against his curveball, which he threw 51 times.

In the ninth, German got Aledmys Diaz to hit a routine grounder to short, Shea Langeliers to fly softly to center on his first pitch and Esteury Ruiz to hit a routine grounder to third on his first pitch.

“I was actually pretty calm over there,” a drained-looking (and sounding) Aaron Boone said. “Just enjoying watching him kind of paint a masterpiece.”

The only ball in play that came close to being a hit was Seth Brown’s one-out shot down the first-base line in the fifth. Anthony Rizzo laid out to his left to make a backhand stop, got to one knee and fired a sidearm bullet to German covering for the out.

After Rizzo gloved Josh Donaldson’s throw from third for the final out, German was mobbed by his teammates, who sprinted out of the dugout to celebrate in a  scene similar to the ones that follow any series-clinching win in October.

The first two players to reach German were Rizzo and catcher Kyle Higashioka, who also had been behind the plate for the franchise's most recent no-hitter, by Corey  Kluber on May 19, 2021, against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas. 

“It was just a privilege to be back there,” Higashioka said. “The way his stuff was working, I think he would have thrown it to anybody. I’m just lucky to have been back there.”

German had to overcome lengthy delays as the Yankees scored six runs in the fifth and three in the ninth, and also had to be patient as the A's had to replace an injured pitcher during the seventh.

Higashioka said he became aware that German was perfect “in like the fourth, fifth inning,” but he didn’t think about it too much. Not then.

“Perfect games are so rare, you’re just like, ‘OK, it’s probably not going to happen. A perfect game, who does that?’ ” Higashioka said. “As soon as the seventh came around, he had a pretty easy inning [eight pitches], and I was like, ‘Wow, I think he can actually do this.’ Just an incredible night for him. Makes me really happy to see him bounce back, especially after a couple of rough starts.”

German had allowed 17 runs (15 earned) in 5 1/3 innings in his previous two starts against the Red Sox and Mariners. He had given up 15 hits (including five home runs), walked four and hit two batters. Opposing hitters had a 500/.553/1.200  slash line in that span.

German also pitched with a heavy heart, as his uncle passed away earlier in the week. "I cried a lot yesterday in the clubhouse,'' he said in an on-field interview with YES.

“There was no doubt about me [making] the start,” he told reporters.  “Had really good communication going back and forth with my family [in his native Dominican Republic]. Definitely not an easy week, but at the same time, I felt like staying here with the team. Doing my job [was the right thing].”

German, 30, became the first Yankee to throw a perfect game since David Cone did so on July 18, 1999, against. the Expos at Yankee Stadium. It was MLB's first perfect game since the Mariners' Felix Hernandez shut down the Rays  on Aug. 15, 2012.

“He was my idol,” German said of Hernandez, a six-time All-Star and the AL Cy Young Award winner in 2010. “I really looked up to the way he pitched. To be on the list, following him, means a lot.”

Also on that list is Dallas Braden, who threw a perfect game against the Rays on May 9, 2010, and saw Wednesday night’s game firsthand, calling the game on A’s television.

German's gem overshadowed a standout performance by the offense, which had been averaging 3.0 runs per game in the previous 19 games as the Yankees went 8-11 in  Aaron Judge’s absence. They had 11 hits Wednesday, led by Giancarlo Stanton, who went 2-for-3, including his seventh homer, and three RBIs. Harrison Bader and Anthony Volpe also had two hits.

Stanton, who had five hits in his previous 56 at-bats entering the fourth inning, hit a 422-foot solo homer off former Yankee JP Sears with two outs in that inning and grounded a two-run single through a drawn-in infield  in the six-run fifth. On that hit, Shintaro Fujinami’s pitch came in at 100.5 mph and left Stanton’s bat at 115.4 mph.

Higashioka had an RBI double and DJ LeMahieu and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had run-scoring singles in the big inning as the Yankees (44-36) sent 11 men to the plate.

Sears, sent to Oakland by the Yankees at last year’s trade deadline along with pitchers Luis Medina and Ken Waldichuk in exchange for Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino, allowed seven runs (five earned), five hits and three walks in four innings.

The A’s (21-61) remain on pace to challenge the 1962 Mets, who went 40-120, for the most losses in modern MLB history (dating to 1900).

Still, none of that came up postgame. Not after what German did.

“I’ve always thought about throwing a no-hitter or a perfect game,” German said, smiling again. “And I always thought it would be cool if I did it under 100 pitches.”

Mission accomplished. Both of them.