Randy Johnson pitches perfect game

ATLANTA, May 18 (UPI) -- Arizona's Randy Johnson pitched the 15th perfect game in modern major league history Tuesday night while beating the Atlanta Braves, 2-0.

At 40 years old, the fireballing lefthander of the Arizona Diamondbacks became the oldest to pitch a perfect game, surpassing Cy Young, who was 37 when he pitched the first perfect game 100 years ago.

Johnson tossed the first perfect game in the National League in nearly 13 years and the first in the majors in almost five years.

A four-time Cy Young Award winner with all sorts of strikeout records, Johnson seemed headed for another of those as he fanned seven in the first four innings.

It was just the fifth perfect game in NL history and the first since Montreal's Dennis Martinez stopped Los Angeles on July 28, 1991.

Baseball's last perfect game was on July 18, 1999, when David Cone of the New York Yankees shut down Montreal.