Wednesday night was a historic one for New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán, as he recorded Major League Baseball’s 24th perfect game during its 11-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

In MLB, a perfect game is when a pitcher allows no hits and no walks from the opposing batter throughout the game.

His perfect game is the 24th in MLB history, the fourth in Yankees history, and the first since Seattle Mariners’ Félix Hernández accomplished the feat on Aug. 15, 2012. 

Germán’s perfect game was a historic one in more ways than one. 

He is also the first pitcher from the Dominican Republic to throw a perfect game. He’s also on the third pitcher born outside the United States to throw a perfect game, joining Hernandez (from Venezuela) adn Dennis Martínez (from Nicaragua, who accomplished the feat on June 28, 1991). 

In addition, the 11-0 margin marked the most lopsided perfect game ever. 

When asked about the feat of throwing a perfect game, Germán highlights the rarity of it. 

"So exciting,” Germán said with help from a translator. “When you think about something very unique in baseball, you know not many people have an opportunity to pitch a perfect game. To accomplish something like this in my career… it's something that I am going to remember forever."

This game comes after arguably the worst stretch of his career, going winless over his previous six starts and surrendering 17 runs in 5 ⅓ innings in his previous two starts. 

During an interview after the game, Germán revealed that his performance was in the midst of a personal tragedy, as his uncle died just two days earlier. 

“I cried a lot yesterday in the clubhouse. I had him with me throughout the whole game. I was thinking about him, and it happened. This game is a tribute to him,” Germán said. “He would have been so happy. He was always someone who brought joy to our family and it happened for him to watch this from up there.” 

Germán officially made his Major League debut with the Yankees in June 2017. Throughout his career, he’s recorded a 31-26 win-loss record and 507 total strikeouts.