Wouldn’t you know it? RHP Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox has thrown the 21st perfect game in major league history, retiring all 27 Seattle Mariners he faced in a 4-0 Chicago victory.
The 29-year-old right-hander needed just 80 pitches to get through eight innings, throwing 57 strikes as he sat down the first 24 batters to step in against him.
Humber opened up the bottom of the ninth by falling behind Michael Saunders, 3-0, but recovered to strike him out. John Jaso flied out for the second out. Standing between Humber and history? Brendan Ryan. Humber got him on a wild third strike that may be debated. Ryan tried to check his swing but the home umpire didn’t think he had stopped his bat. The ball skipped away from Sox catcher A. J. Pierzynski, who quickly went after it. Ryan made an effort for first but the throw was always going beating. 27 up 27 down.
Humber, of course was the former No. 3 overall pick by the New York Mets in the 2004 MLB Draft.
On February 2, 2008 he was traded by the New York Mets with Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez and Kevin Mulvey to the Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana.
The Philadelphia Phillies’ Roy Halladay was the last pitcher to throw a perfect game, it came against the Florida Marlins on May 29, 2010.
