Mike Mussina - Near-perfect Games

Near-perfect Games

Mussina pitched several near-perfect games throughout his career:

• On July 17, 1992, he retired the first 12 Texas Rangers before surrendering a double to Kevin Reimer. Mussina retired the final 15 batters he faced for a one-hit 8–0 shutout.
• On May 30, 1997, he retired the first 25 Cleveland Indians before surrendering a single to Sandy Alomar Jr. with one out in the ninth. Mussina struck out the last two batters for a one-hit 3–0 shutout.
• On August 4, 1998, he retired the first 23 Detroit Tigers he faced before surrendering a double to Frank Catalanotto with two outs in the eighth. Mussina gave up another hit in the eventual 4–0 shutout.
• On August 1, 2000, he tossed a one-hitter against the Minnesota Twins.
• On September 2, 2001, he retired the first 26 Boston Red Sox he faced; he then ran pinch-hitter Carl Everett (batting for Joe Oliver) to a 1-and-2 count before Everett blooped a single to left-center. Mussina then retired leadoff man Trot Nixon on a grounder, striking out 13 batters in a one-hit 1–0 shutout. The losing pitcher was David Cone—the pitcher of the last perfect game at the time, on July 18, 1999. Although Mussina did not achieve perfection, James Buckley, Jr. considered it special enough to include an appendix chapter about it in his 2002 book Perfect: The Inside Story of Baseball's Sixteen Perfect Games.
• On October 12, 2004, he retired the first 19 Boston Red Sox he faced in Game 1 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. On Mark Bellhorn's third trip to the plate, Mussina surrendered a double to left field on an 0-2 pitch. He would work 6 2⁄₃ innings and record the 10-7 Yankee win.