White Sox Mark Buehrle Throws Perfect Game
Chicago pitcher throws first perfect game in five years, his second no hitter.
July 23, 2009 — -- Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle took the mound today for an afternoon start against the Tampa Bay Rays and walked off hours later as just the 18th pitcher in Major League Baseball to throw a perfect game, the first in five years.
The 5-0 win was the 30-year-old's second career no hitter, making him just the sixth in MLB history to throw both a perfect game and a no-hitter. His first no hitter was hurled in a 6-0 win over the Texas Rangers April 18, 2007.
Buehrle's 27-up, 27-down victory over the Rays was also the first perfect game to be pitched for the White Sox since 1922.
The highlight of the six-strikeout shutout against last year's American League champions was centerfielder Dewayne Wise's wall-scaling 9th inning catch, which ultimately preserved Buehrle's efforts. Tampa's Gabe Kapler launched a long fly ball to left-centerfield, but Wise scaled the wall and pulled the ball back into the field of play, babbling it briefly before it settled into his glove.
"I was hoping it was staying in there, give him enough room to catch it. I know the guys were doing everything they could to save the no-hitter, the perfect game, whatever it might be," Buehrle told ESPN.
After the game he was treated to congratulation from one of the team's biggest fans, President Obama. Obama called Buehrle from his motorcade after an event in Ohio this afternoon and congratulated him on the "extraordinary achievement."
President Obama Calls White Sox Mark Buehrle
Obama joked with Buehrle that perhaps the pitcher had gotten gained some luck from the fact that Obama wore a White Sox team jacket when he threw out the first pitch at last week's Major League Baseball All Star Game.
"As a fan it's extraordinary. When you're a White Sox fan and I know the guy who did it, it makes it even more fun," Obama said in a conversation with White house Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The victory puts Buehrle in an elite group of perfect game pitchers, including legends like Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, David Wells and Randy Johnson.