# Would this count as a perfect game?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [August 31, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757 "2011-08-31T16:32:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757/21 "2011-08-31T21:03:15Z")

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Actually, I had forgotten there were two perfect games last year and was thinking about the list from before those two.

Still, 100 pitches isn’t going to get you yanked for a pitch count unless it is a Strasburg situation, which it usually isn’t. 120 probably won’t either.

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**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757/22 "2011-09-03T12:38:00Z")

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> [@Tom\_Scud](#):
>
> Barring injury or ejection (as in the OP), nobody’s going to pull a pitcher throwing a perfect game. And injuries and ejections are sufficiently rare that you wouldn’t have expected one to come up in the 18 perfect games that have been pitched in the modern era.
> 
> I guess if somehow another [Harvey Haddix game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Haddix) comes up, the starter might be pulled in the tenth or eleventh inning.

Tell that to legendary player and manager Ochiai of the Chunichi Dragons in Japan. He pulled the starting pitcher in the 9th inning for the starter…who was working on a perfect game in in the Nippon Series (there World Series). The starting pitcher had only thrown about 85 pitches at the time, and even the reliever seemed stunned.

Ochiai later defended the move, noting the score was just 1-0, but he was brutally criticized for the move (and rightly so, I think). Chunichi lead 3 games to 1 and they still had their ace Kawakami ready for at least one more game, and game 7 if needed would be back at home. No one will remember the starting pitcher (Yamai) for pitching 8 perfect innings…

More here: \<[http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/2007\_Nippon\_Series&gt](http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/2007_Nippon_Series&gt);

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757/23 "2011-09-03T13:30:02Z")

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> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#):
>
> This was not in question. The question was whether the pitcher who retired all 27 batters gets credit as having pitched a perfect game. Of course, a related question (in Post 4) is whether an individual pitcher’s perfect game must also be a complete game (which it isn’t, in the situation that I described).

He would, yes. According to current rules, your scenario would be a perfect game, and Pitcher B would be recorded as being the man who got all the outs… even if Pitcher A was also mentioned as being the guy who technically started the game.

“Perfect Game” isn’t a statistic, really. It’s a recognition, sort of a formalized honour, where MLB can choose whether or not to recognize it ex post facto if they want to.

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**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757/24 "2011-09-06T18:48:06Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> He would, yes. According to current rules, your scenario would be a perfect game, and Pitcher B would be recorded as being the man who got all the outs… even if Pitcher A was also mentioned as being the guy who technically started the game…

Thanks. I’m glad I stopped back in here. It’s not often that the last post in a thread basically refutes everything else that has been said regarding the question in the OP. Do you have a cite (only because I couldn’t find one)?

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**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757/25 "2011-09-06T19:08:54Z")

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> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#):
>
> Thanks. I’m glad I stopped back in here. It’s not often that the last post in a thread basically refutes everything else that has been said regarding the question in the OP. Do you have a cite (only because I couldn’t find one)?

[Here’s one I found.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14205032&postcount=7)

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**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-count-as-a-perfect-game/594757/26 "2011-09-06T21:13:08Z")

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But note that that definition tells us what a perfect game is. It doesn’t tell us whose. A perfect game you didn’t start is by definition a shared one.

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