Domingo Germán, the New York Yankees right-hander, pitched the 24th perfect game in major league history Wednesday night, retiring every Oakland batter in an 11-0 victory over the Athletics.

It was the first perfect game since Seattle Mariners ace Félix Hernández threw one against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 15, 2012. There were three that season — but none since until Germán finished off the first no-hitter in the majors this year.

He joined Don Larsen (1956), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) as Yankees to pitch perfect games. Larsen’s gem came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

“So exciting,” Germán said through a translator. “When you think about something very unique in baseball, not many people have an opportunity to pitch a perfect game. To accomplish something like this in my career is something that I’m going to remember forever.”

Germán (5-5) struck out nine of 27 hitters against the A’s, who have the worst record in the majors at 21-61.

Previous outings

Winless in six previous outings against Oakland, Germán threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes. He mixed 51 curveballs and 30 fastballs that averaged 92.5 mph with 17 changeups and one sinker.

He went to three balls on a batter just twice, falling behind Ryan Noda 3-1 in the fourth and Jonah Bride by the same count in the eighth. Noda struck out on consecutive curveballs, and Germán followed with three straight curves to Bride: one for a called strike, the next resulting in a foul ball and the third in a groundout.

Six days after allowing a career-high 10 runs (eight earned) and four homers over 3 1/3 innings in a loss to the Mariners at home, Germán got his 500th career strikeout and was the definition of perfection.

Who is Domingo Germán?

German was signed by the Marlins in 2009. He was traded to the Yankees in 2014.

In 2019, however, German was suspended by MLB after being put on administrative leave for alleged domestic violence against his girlfriend. German missed the entire 2020 season after sitting out part of the 2019 campaign.

MLB suspended German 81 games for violating the league and Players Association’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, the result of an incident with his girlfriend.

Per The Athletic, German slapped his girlfriend at the event and then, while drunk, became violent after it. The woman eventually hid in a locked room. Authorities were not called the night of the incident.

German was placed on administrative leave by MLB while it investigated the incident. On Jan. 2, 2020, German was given an 81-game suspension, with 18 games already served from the leave. He missed the entire 60-game, COVID-shortened regular season and three Yankees playoff games in 2020. He was reinstated Oct. 6, 2020, but was ineligible to pitch for the remainder of the postseason.

The 30-year-old pitcher served a 10-game suspension last month after getting ejected from a game in Toronto for using an illegal sticky substance on the mound. His only previous complete game as a professional came with Double-A Trenton in April 2017.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.