MLBVideo

White Sox’ Philip Humber Pitches 21st Perfect Game In MLB History

by Glenn Davis | 6:53 pm, April 21st, 2012

Well, that’s a way to spice up a routine-looking Saturday of baseball: White Sox pitcher Philip Humber finished off the 21st perfect game in MLB history, blanking the Mariners in Seattle, 4-0. The ending was odd, as far as these things go: Seattle’s Brendan Ryan was (possibly wrongly) called out swinging on a check swing on a 3-2 pitch, and the ball got away from White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, but the out was recorded, and that’s all that matters. Here was the scene for the last out:

Nice job, Sox: a rare mount pileup for a regular season game. We approve of the celebration – but not, of course, as much as we approve of Humber’s performance, which featured nine strikeouts – and, as the announcers were fond of pointing out in the aftermath, didn’t even feature many hard-hit balls. It’s not often you can get the home crowd applauding when you play for the visiting team, but Humber fully earned that honor today.

Video by CJ Fogler.

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philip humber

Samiam

I guess the definition of ‘perfect game’ has changed since I played college ball. A perfect game was defined then as a game where a pitcher struck out every batter. When the batter didn’t get to base but got out in some way other than a strike, like a caught fly ball as happened in this game – then you had a no hitter. Still a laudable accomplishment, but not a perfect game.
SouthSide

This is definitely a perfect game. There has never been 27 strikeouts in a MLB game. You don’t have to strike everyone out, you just can’t let anyone reach base for any reason. College rules are not the same as major league rules. This will be recorded as a perfect game.
soxfan

What are you smoking? You certainly don’t know the MLB rules if you think that was not a perfect game. What are you, a jealous Cubs fan? By the way, what Community College did you go to?
rkady

Samian – A no hitter is just that. No one gets a hit. You can have a player reach base on walk and still throw a no hitter. A perfect game is when no one reaches base at all. No one in major league baseball history has ever struck out 27 batters in a row. But there have been 21 perfect games.