Revisiting Félix Hernández’s 9 perfect innings 10 years later

Long after the postgame press conference was over, and after most of their teammates had gone home, Félix Hernández and John Jaso lingered in the home clubhouse at Safeco Field, neither in a hurry to go anywhere.

Hours earlier, on Aug. 15, 2012, Hernández had tossed the only perfect game in franchise history, blanking the Rays 1-0 on a sun-splashed afternoon with Jaso behind the plate.

Hernández and Jaso, who had nowhere else they needed to be, laughed and shook their heads in amazement, neither of them quite willing to let go of the moment just yet.

“Everyone was gone,” Jaso told The Athletic. “So it was just me and Félix and a trainer or two, sitting around, wondering if it really happened.”

Hernández needed 113 pitches to get 27 outs, 12 on strikeouts. He only ran three three-ball counts. There weren’t even that many close calls in terms of near-hits.

It was complete domination from Hernández, who captured the American League Cy Young Award in 2009 and was certainly in the prime of his career. You always had the feeling something special could happen when Hernández made a start during this time. But a perfect game? Did anyone see this coming?

Well, it turns out one person did: Hernández.

“Warming up in the bullpen before the game, everything worked,” Hernández told reporters afterward. “Every game, I’m always thinking about a perfect game, but this is pretty awesome.”

On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of his perfecto — the last one to occur in the big leagues — we’re taking a look back on that magical afternoon through the eyes and memories of those who witnessed it, inning by inning.

“I’m glad it happened here at home,” Hernández said, beaming. “The fans deserved it … so did I!”

1

The Rays had a plan for Hernández. They really did and, honestly, it was a pretty sound one. The Rays’ hitters wanted to jump on Hernández’s fastball early in the count to avoid — well, as much as they could — his secondary offerings.

Only there was an issue. Hernández’s catcher this day was Jaso, who had spent parts of three seasons with the Rays and was privy to how his former team wanted to size up Hernández.

The Rays were expecting about 60 percent fastballs. Instead, of the 113 pitches Hernández threw, most were of the offspeed variety.

“I know how they approached Felix in the past,” Jaso said. “We used that all day.”

Leadoff hitter Sam Fuld hit one of the two hardest-hit balls in the game in the first inning, a drive to right-center field that was tracked down by Eric Thames for the first out.

Jaso was spot-on. The Rays were aggressive early in the count. It took Hernández just seven pitches to get three outs.

2

Hernández was nearly as efficient in the second inning as he was the first, needing 10 pitches to get a strikeout, a ground-ball out and a flyout.

While Hernández was settling in, a crowd of 21,889 for the afternoon game was still getting situated, unaware of what it was about to witness.

Evan Longoria struck out on three pitches to start the second inning, and Ben Zobrist and Carlos Peña followed with a pair of quick outs.

But it was the Longoria strikeout that resonated with Jaso. Maybe this was a sign of things to come, he thought.

“Felix was hitting 95 mph with his fastball, throwing his changeup to right-handers and left-handers, and his curve was nasty,” Jaso said. “And when he struck out Evan Longoria in the second inning with a curve, I thought the day might be special.”

3

By the third inning, Hernández didn’t bother shaking off signs, turning over the game-calling to his catcher. “And that wasn’t hard to do,” Jaso said. “All of his pitches that day were so nasty.”

Facing the last three hitters in the Rays’ order — José Lobatón, Elliot Johnson and Sean Rodriguez — Hernández kept working fast, and the Rays kept swinging early in the count. Again, Hernández needed seven pitches to get three outs.

On the other side, Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson was dealing as well. Mariners shortstop Brendan Ryan, who entered the game hitting .198, singled to start the bottom of the third. Two outs later, he was still there.

With designated hitter Jesús Montero up, Ryan stole second base and then raced to third when Hellickson threw a wild pitch. Montero singled him home for what would be the only run of the afternoon.

“That RBI was so important, I’ll never forget it,” Montero would say. “I spent most of the rest of the game on the bench, praying with (teammate Franklin Gutierrez).’”

Said Gutierrez: “I sat in one spot and didn’t move.”

The suspense was beginning to build. Hernández was onto something.

4

After essentially coasting through the first three innings — it took Hernández just 24 pitches to get nine outs — the Rays finally made him work a little in the fourth inning.

Fuld saw six pitches before lining out softly to third baseman Kyle Seager. The next two batters, B.J. Upton and Matt Joyce, each saw six pitches. Both stuck out swinging.

“I definitely didn’t see this coming today,” Upton would say after the game.

From his spot in center field, Michael Saunders knew he was witnessing something unique. But then, he always had that feeling whenever Hernández took the mound.

“Every time he goes out there — and this is God’s honest truth — I expect him to throw a no-hitter. It’s like when he gives up a hit, I think, ‘Well, he’ll throw one his next start,'” Saunders said.

“I think he expects that, too.”

5

By now, it was evident to the Rays that Hernández had shifted away from throwing fastballs early in the count. Instead, it was a steady diet of breaking balls and changeups that had them baffled.

Hernández gave a lot of credit after the game to Jaso for taking a different route. As for the Rays, they didn’t know what was coming, especially when Hernández started mixing in more heaters as the game went on.

“It just seemed like every pitch you thought he was going to throw at a certain point, it was the other pitch,” Longoria noted.

Something else the Rays noticed: The, well, let’s just call it a generous strike zone by plate umpire Rob Drake. This would become a bigger issue in the seventh inning.

“Some of us had to maybe swing at some pitches we didn’t want to,” Upton said. “Some of the guys thought maybe some weren’t strikes; maybe some of them were. I think we got a lot of the same reactions from a couple of the guys.”

6

Twice in this game, Hernández struck out the side — first in the sixth when he got Lobatón, Johnson and Rodriguez on 15 pitches.

“I saw one (fastball) out of nine pitches,” Johnson said. “They all look like fastballs out of his hand, but it winds up being a breaking ball, or that split-finger-looking changeup, whatever that thing is.”

Behind the plate, Jaso was enjoying the show.

“There were a few times when I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, he has some really good stuff today,” Jaso said. “His curveball … I mean, the meat of their order … those guys were swinging and missing it by a foot and a half.”

John Jaso and Felix Hernández embrace after making history. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)

7

After growing tired of what he felt was a big strike zone — especially to left-handed hitters — Rays manager Joe Maddon finally let Drake know what he thought of it in the seventh.

Drake promptly ejected Maddon, forcing him to watch the last of the game from the television in the visiting clubhouse.

“I had seen (Hernández’s) dynamic stuff in the past,” Maddon said. “I thought the zone was getting a bit wide. It was a great advantage for him. I was just trying to get it to shrink a bit.”

As upset as he was with his early exit, Maddon still marveled at Hernández’s body of work on this day.

“This stuff,” he said, “is prodigious.”

As for Hernández, he kept on rolling. Three batters, three ground-ball outs, and history fast approaching his doorstep.

8

Hernández got the heart of the Rays’ lineup in the eighth inning — Longoria, Zobrist and Peña. If he was going to reach perfection, well, it wouldn’t come easily. These guys had two plate appearances against Hernández by now.

The Rays knew what he was up to, and how he was going about it. But they still had to hit it.

“He introduced all his other goodies, and that’s when it got kind of ugly,” Maddon said.

For the second time in the game, Hernández struck out the side, this time on 13 pitches. By now, the King’s Court, the designated rooting section for Hernández, was going insane.

Hernández was closing in on history. And he could sense it.

“All day, I’d been able to throw any pitch in any count for a strike,” Hernández said.

9

By the ninth inning, the 21,889 in attendance were collectively on the edge of their seats when Hernández took the mound.

Three outs from perfection, the crowd sensed what was coming.

“They were loud and they were into it. The King’s Court was rolling,” said Mariners broadcaster Dave Sims, who called the game on television that day. “My emotions, beginning in the fifth inning, started to take an exponential leap every inning. I’m amazed I got through the last call.

“You hear the phrase ‘on the edge of your seat’ or ‘on pins and needles.’ It was that type of excitement all rolled into one.”

The first batter, pinch-hitter Desmond Jennings, struck out swinging on a nasty changeup down. The next batter, pinch-hitter Jeff Keppinger flailed at a changeup, grounding out weakly to Ryan at shortstop.

Then, with the crowd on its feet, Hernández misfired on his first two pitches, falling behind Rodriguez 2-0.

“Just throw it over the plate. He’s going to swing,” Hernández thought to himself.

Hernández went to his slider and Rodriguez, looking for a fastball in a fastball count, swung through it. Hernández was almost there. He then went to his big breaking ball, an 83 mph curveball that Rodriguez watched in disbelief.

With the count, 2-2, Jaso set up and called for a changeup. Rodriguez could only watch it land in Jaso’s glove, a called third strike. Hernández had his perfect game.

“I caught that final pitch and I paused,” Jaso said. “Then I thought, ‘I can’t believe that just happened!’”

Hernández was mobbed by his teammates as a party broke out on the mound. Two hours and 22 minutes after Hernández threw his first pitch, he threw his last. It was as nasty as anything he threw.

“I don’t care what lineup you might have put out there, they wouldn’t have had a chance,” Saunders said. “His pitches were moving all over the place.”

The 2012 season wasn’t a great one for the Mariners, as they lost 87 games and finished in last place in the AL West. In fact, the Mariners were actually on the wrong end of a perfect game earlier in the year, as they had to watch the White Sox’s Phillip Humber celebrate his in Seattle.

But this day belonged to Hernández, and to Mariners fans everywhere.

“Today it happened, and it’s something special,” Hernández said. “I don’t have any words to explain this. It’s pretty amazing. It doesn’t happen every day.”

(Top photo: Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images)