Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants pitched the Houston Astros into oblivion at AT&T Park last night, throwing the first perfect game in the team's history, and the 22nd in major league history, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. He had a career-high 14 strikeouts and threw a total of 125 pitches, a new record for a perfecto. Spectacular catches from left fielder Melky Cabrera and right fielder Gregor Blanco helped the Giants to their 10-0 win.
Catcher Buster Posey and the rest of the team rushed the mound after the final out. "I can't thank Buster enough," Cain said. "I didn't even question once what he was calling." The last perfect game was pitched by the Chicago White Sox's Phil Humber in April. This is the second time in three years that there have been two perfect games in the same season, but the only time it happened before that was in 1880—and this is the first time since 1917 that there have been five no-hitters in a season by the middle of June, AP notes. (More Matt Cain stories.)