Perfection! San Francisco Giants Prospect Hurls SAL’s First Perfecto

For the second time in less than a week, a minor league pitcher hurled a perfect game. Here’s how San Francisco Giants prospect Domenic Mazza’s historic night went down.

One week, two perfect games. Minor league baseball is off to an historic start.

Days after Cincinnati Reds prospect Tyler Mahle pitched his perfecto, the Augusta GreenJackets’ Domenic Mazza pitched a doozie himself.

Mazza is a 22-year-old lefty out of UC Santa Barbara. The San Francisco Giants took him in the 22nd round of the 2015 MLB Draft. He was sensational in his half-season debut out of the bullpen split between the Arizona and Northwest Leagues, and followed it up with a steady encore performance last season.

Now, in his second run through the South Atlantic League, Mazza made history… twice.

Mazza, as you may remember, was the 666th pick of the aforementioned 2015 draft. He was also the pitcher who served up Tim Tebow’s first home run.

Luckily, he can be remembered for his own accomplishment now.

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It was the first nine-inning perfect game in the history of the league. The Sally is a league that has seen some pretty insane pitching prospects roll through the past few seasons, so it speaks volumes to Mazza’s accomplishment.

Most were simply amazed that Mahle needed just 88 pitches to get through his night of perfection last week. Mazza took only 85 pitches to dispose of the Lexington Legends lineup in order.

Mazza struck out nine on his quest to Sally immortality, including a run of five in a row between the fourth and fifth innings. He landed 60 of his 85 pitches for strikes, a dazzling 71 percent.

His battery-mate Will Albertson launched a two-run bomb in the fourth inning to give Mazza a six-run cushion, but it was another home run that added to the excitement of the evening.

There were additional fireworks after Kelvin Beltre homered for the GreenJackets in the top of the eighth. After a few — seemingly unpleasant — words were exchanged between Beltre and Legends catcher Nick Dini, a benches-clearing brawl ensued. The minor layoff didn’t seem to effect Mazza at all.

Next: Keuchel is Astros ace once again

A brawl. A few dazzling plays by right fielder Sandro Fabian to keep Mazza’s quest alive. Two home runs. And then, of course, perfection.

Not a bad little way to spend your Tuesday night in Lexington if you’re an Augusta fan. Not bad at all.