There have been a lot of memorable moments in the game of baseball. From walk-off hits to game-saving catches, a lot of big-time plays have been made. There is one performance in baseball that rarely happens, and that’s a perfect game.

A perfect game is when a pitcher pitches the entire game, not giving up a hit, walk, or a run. There is also no error committed by that team on defense. When a perfect game happens, all of baseball takes a moment to honor that pitcher’s performance because it is a rare occasion. The last perfect game was thrown eight years ago by Felix Hernandez.

King Felix’s perfect game

It was August 5, 2012, and the Seattle Mariners were taking on the Tampa Bay Rays. The 2012 season was a big one for perfect games as Phillip Humber, and Matt Cain also threw perfect games. That was the first time that three perfect games were thrown in one MLB season.

Hernandez’s perfect game was the 23rd perfect game in MLB history and the first in Mariners’ franchise history. The Mariners would win the game 1-0 while Hernandez retired all 27 batters and struck out 12. Hernandez threw 113 pitches, 77 of them were strikes, and he struck out the side in the sixth and the eighth innings.

The win improved Hernandez’s record to 11-5 on the season. The Mariners were struggling that season, and King Felix was one bright spot for the team. His performance on that day will forever be remembered by the Mariners organization. What made it even better was Hernandez got the final out of the game via a strikeout. There’s no better way to end a perfect game than a strikeout. That feeling will always be remembered by Hernandez.

For someone to throw a perfect game in the MLB, you have to be on point from the first pitch to the very last. Hernandez displayed that, and his defense backed him up by making all the plays and not committing an error. A team effort was fully on display by the Mariners during that game.

Hernandez’s 2012 season

Hernandez had a lot of success during the 2012 season. Other than the perfect game performance, he was named an All-Star for the third time in his career.

He finished the season with a 13-9 record with a 3.06 ERA. His 223 strikeouts that season is the third-most in his career. For right now, Hernandez can say he is the last pitcher to throw a perfect game. Just two years before, he was named the 2010 AL Cy Young winner, an award given out to the best pitcher in each league. He made a strong case for another Cy Young award during the 2012 season.

A look back at history for Hernandez

Who knows when the league will see another perfect game thrown. The MLB has been around for almost 151 years, and only 23 pitchers can say that they have done something special that does not come easy.

Throughout his career, Hernandez has shown why he has been a top pitcher in the league, and in 2012 he made a statement in throwing that perfect game.