Philip Humber dropped to his knees. Brendan Ryan had swung at his 3-2 breaking ball, which was in the left-handers batter's box. It rolled away from A.J. Pierzynski, who didn't look like a 35-year-old backstop the way he pounced on the ball and threw to first.
The ball easily beat Ryan to the bag. Philip Humber had thrown a perfect game. He was mobbed by his teammates, with the sight a familiar one to White Sox fans. Less than three years ago, Mark Buehrle accomplished the same feat against Tampa Bay, although he needed a spectacular catch by Dewayne Wise to save his perfecto.
Humber needed no such play. He absolutely mowed the Mariners down, only needing 97 pitches to retire all 27 batters. He struck out nine, with every Mariners starter except shortstop Munenori Kawasaki going down on strikes. Even Ichiro.
It was the third perfect game in White Sox history Saturday afternoon against Seattle, joining Charlie Robinson (1922) and Buehrle (2009) to accomplish the feat in a Sox uniform.
He previously had a brush with history, taking a no-hitter into the seventh against the Yankees last April -- nearly a year ago to the date of today's game.