The Elusive Perfect Game and the KC Royals
There have been 37 perfect games pitched in MLB history. The list features defunct franchises from a century ago as well as teams with multiple perfect games thrown by their pitchers. The most recent perfect game was thrown by Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners in 2012. The first one of the World Series era came from Cy Young himself, and pitchers have been vying for an award with his name for decades since.
The KC Royals have had multiple Cy Young Award winners over the years; have any pitchers been able to replicate his perfect game outing?
No Royals Involved in Perfect Games
The short answer is no. The Royals have never been involved in any perfect games, as winners or losers. A perfect game is a rare feat in baseball, where a pitcher does not allow any opposing player to reach base. While the Royals have not been part of any perfect games, they have had their fair share of memorable moments in the sport.
Close Calls and Memorable Moments
The Royals have had plenty of complete-game shutouts in their history.
The most recent was pitcher Glenn Sparkman’s outing against the White Sox on July 16, 2019
. In that game, he gave up five hits and a walk but never let a batter cross home plate in nine innings of work. This was Sparkman’s first complete game shutout of his career, and it helped the Kansas City Royals secure a 11-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Pitcher Danny Duffy had a close call with a perfect game back in 2016. On August 1, Duffy pitched eight innings and recorded only one hit and one walk against the AL Central rival Chicago White Sox. He has the most strikeouts in a one-hit start in Kansas City history, logging 16 strikeouts. The Royals thankfully won that game by a 3-0 score.