7 ⅔ Innings of Perfection and Mookie Betts Had No Answer For a Weak Grounder

Holy smokes, you guys watching baseball right now? Because if you weren't tuned into what went down Saturday in Chicago, you missed a wild one. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, that dude for the Dodgers, was out there throwing an absolute masterpiece, nearly carving his name into the history books with a perfect game. He was literally just four outs away, and then, boom, it was gone. And you're not gonna believe how it all started to unravel.

The Dominance Was Real, Until It Wasn't

Yamamoto was on a different planet, man. He was absolutely dealing, cruising through 7 ⅔ innings without a single batter reaching base against the White Sox at Rate Field. Perfection, pure and simple. His command was surgical. He was hitting every corner, inside and out. We saw some hard-hit balls, sure, like Miguel Vargas's liner in the seventh right at the left fielder Ryan Ward, or Colson Montgomery's scorcher to Freddie Freeman to start the eighth. But those were just luck going Yamamoto's way, right? Nobody was getting a free pass. Then, with two outs in the eighth inning, the dream died. A weak grounder, the kind you expect to be an easy out, went to Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts. And he botched it. An error. Just like that, the 25th perfect game in MLB history vanished. Betts was hanging his head in the dugout after the inning, looking devastated, and Yamamoto even patted him on the butt like, "Don't worry about it." But you know he was feeling that gut punch.

From Perfect to Just... Amazing

Even after the error, Yamamoto still had a no-hitter going through eight innings. Unbelievable, right? He still had a chance to get a no-no, which would have been the Dodgers' 27th, extending their lead as the MLB franchise with the most no-hitters. The White Sox are second with 20, for crying out loud. But then, to lead off the ninth inning, White Sox center fielder Triston Peters stepped up and crushed a home run. Just like that, the no-hitter and the shutout were both gone, wiped out in one swing. Yamamoto's final line for the day, after all that drama, was still incredible: 8 ⅓ innings pitched, 1 hit, 1 run, 0 walks, and 7 strikeouts. The Dodgers won the game, 7-1, because Yamamoto was just that good. This wasn't some fluke outing, either. This dude is legit. He came into the game rocking a 2.68 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP, and don't forget, he was the World Series MVP last year. He had a ridiculous 0.99 ERA in his previous four starts! He's just locked in. What a ride that was, even if it wasn't our M's out there making history. You just gotta tip your cap to Yamamoto's stuff, man. He's been locked in, just like that 0.99 ERA over his last four starts told us he was gonna be. The Dodgers got the W, 7-1, but the real story was the near-historic performance. The guy's a World Series MVP, and he showed us why he's one of the best. Speaking of games, our boys, the M's, were down in Washington. Not the result we wanted, man: Seattle Mariners 3, Washington Nationals 8. Tough one. Next time, maybe Yamamoto gets his perfect game, and our M's get a W. We'll be watching!

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.