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June 29 (UPI) -- New York Yankees pitcher Domingo German needed 99 pitches to achieve baseball immortality, retiring 27 Oakland Athletics batters in order en route to MLB's first perfect game in more than a decade. German threw 72 pitches for strikes and totaled nine strikeouts in the 11-0 triumph Wednesday at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, Calif.
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"After the fifth inning, I found myself in good shape," German told reporters. "I just tried to keep the balance I had throughout the game and keep executing pitches."
German is the 24th MLB pitcher to log a perfect game and the first since Felix Hernandez achieved the feat for the Seattle Mariners in a win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 15, 2012.
Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox and Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants also logged perfect games in 2012.
MLB's longest stretch between perfect games was a span between April 30, 1922 (Charlie Robertson) and Oct. 8, 1956 (Don Larsen).
German entered Wednesday night with a 5.10 ERA and 4-5 record this season. His gem resulted in a decreased 4.54 ERA and fifth win of the season.
"I was actually pretty calm over there," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, when asked about his nerves while watching German. "I was just enjoying watching him paint a masterpiece."
Right fielder Giancarlo Stanton went 2 for 3 with a home run, run scored, walk and three RBIs to lead the Yankees offense.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson, who threw to first baseman Anthony Rizzo for the final out of the perfect game, also drove in two runs for the Yankees. Left fielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa went 1 for 3 with two walks, a run scored and two RBIs.
Athletics starter JP Sears allowed five hits and seven runs over four innings to drop to 1-6 on the season.
The Yankees (44-36) will face the Athletics (21-61) in the series finale at 3:37 p.m. EDT Thursday in Oakland.
