The (Almost) Perfect Game

    On June 2, 2010, the baseball world was put into a complete shock. A twenty eight year old, right-handed pitcher from Venezuela was set to take the mound against the Cleveland Indians (now known as the "Guardians"). His name was Armando Galarraga. 

    Galarraga first appeared in the majors in 2007 when he made his debut for the Texas Rangers. He was then traded to the Detroit Tigers at the end of the 2007 season where he would almost make history. 

    The definition of a perfect game in the game of baseball is a game in which all the batters from one team are retired in order, with no one reaching base. Twenty eight year old Galarraga was a hand gesture of the runner is safe call away from achieving this superb accomplishment. 

     It was a nice Wednesday evening in Detroit, Michigan when Armando Galarraga and the Detroit Tigers took the field to take on the Cleveland Indians. Galarraga was perfect right out of the gate as he retired batter after batter in the Indians lineup. 

    The Tigers offense gave Galarraga 3 runs of run support to help him through his start, but nothing was getting in the way or slowing down Armando on this night. The Tiger starter had eight perfect innings of pitching thrown and the only thing standing between him and history was the ninth inning.  

    The top of the 9th inning came up soon enough for Galarraga and the Tigers as they ran right back onto the field where they were on the verge of making history. Galarraga quickly set down Mark Grudzielanek and Mike Redmond for the first two outs of the inning. All of a sudden a twenty eight year old from Venezuela was an out away from history.   

    The batter was Jason Donald that stood between Galarraga and history. Donald quickly found himself a strike away from letting Galarraga achieve a perfect game. The entire crowd at Comerica Park was on its feet. The 1-2 pitch was hit on the ground to Miguel Cabrera, Cabrera fired the ball to Galarraga at first he stepped on the bag and 1st base umpire Jim Joyce ruled Donald safe at first. Galarraga was that close to achieving one of the greatest feats in all of sports.

    Replays clearly showed that Galarraga got to first base before Donald, but there was no replay system to overturn the call. The baseball world was shocked and upset that Galarraga did not get rewarded for a perfect game. To this day, fans call this game the "28-out Perfect Game."