Chicago White Sox pitcher Philip Humber became the first pitcher since Roy Halladay to throw a perfect game as he shut out the Seattle Mariners, 4-0.
Most of the game was smooth sailing for the 29-year-old Humber, but pinch-hitter Brendan Ryan provided some dramatics in the last at-bat.
Ryan worked Humber all the way to 3-2, then Humber threw him a curveball that was out of the zone and got away from catcher A.J. Pierzynski. The shortstop threw a half-swing at it, and the umpire called him out.
If Ryan wouldn't have stopped to argue, he may have been able to make it close play at first base. Or if the ump said Ryan successfully checked up, which was very possible, the perfect game would have been over.
Nonetheless, it was Humber's ninth strikeout of the game, and it completed perfection.
Humber, who has jumped around between the Mets, Twins, Royals and is now in his second year with the White Sox, was very good as a starter last year, starting 26 games and putting up an ERA of 3.75.
But he was never this good.
Humber rolled through Seattle's lineup with ease, as the Mariners only hit the ball hard once or twice. Humber needed a nice play from Brent Lillibridge in the outfield earlier in the game, but that was about it.
The right-hander needed just 96 pitches, and threw an amazing 67 of them for strikes as he made a perfect game look about as easy as possible. He didn't even have a three-ball count until the ninth inning.
"I can't even put it into words," said Humber in a postgame interview on the field.
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