NEW YORK – Always unflappable, Chien-Ming Wang was nearly unhittable. Almost perfect, in fact.
Wang carried his bid for a perfect game into the eighth inning before Ben Broussard homered with one out, leading the New York Yankees over the Seattle Mariners 8-1 Saturday.
Facing a Mariners team that got season highs of 15 runs and 20 hits the previous night, Wang (1-2) was in control the whole way.
Wang got Richie Sexson to roll back to him for the first out of the eighth, but Broussard followed with a home run to right-center field.
The Yankee Stadium crowd saluted Wang with a long, standing ovation. The right-hander stood behind the mound for a moment with his hat off, briefly clenched his jaw and wiped sweat from his brow. Catcher Jorge Posada went to the mound to talk to Wang.
Jose Guillen was up next, and he singled. Kenji Johjima then bounced into a double play to end the inning. Wang walked slowly to the dugout as some of his teammates ran past him, giving him a pat on the back on their way to the bench.
Wang was trying for the 16th perfect game since 1900, including Don Larsen’s gem for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series.
The last two perfect games in the AL have occurred at Yankee Stadium, by New York’s David Cone (1999) and David Wells (1998). Larsen also pitched his at the ballpark.
Randy Johnson has the last perfect game in the majors, for Arizona at Atlanta on May 18, 2004.
Brian Bruney took over for Wang to begin the ninth and finished off the two-hitter.
On Tuesday night, Yankees rookie Phil Hughes took a no-hitter into the seventh inning at Texas, but was forced to leave because of a hamstring injury.
If Wang was at all fazed by the growing tension in the Bronx, he didn’t show it. After the seventh inning, he sat all by himself at the far end of the dugout with a white towel draped over his right shoulder.
This was certainly an unlikely situation for a perfect game. Wang, who finished second in the AL Cy Young voting last year, went on the disabled list in spring training with a strained right hamstring and struggled in his first two starts of the season.
Wang cruised through the first two innings, striking out two in the second. Third baseman Alex Rodriguez backhanded Jose Lopez’s hard one-hopper and threw him out to end the third.
Rodriguez also made a great play to retire Lopez for the final out of the sixth. He charged a slow roller up the line and made a strong throw to nip Lopez at first as the crowd roared.
Ichiro Suzuki hit a grounder off Wang’s left shin in the fourth but the right-hander threw him out at first. The trainer came out to check on him but Wang was fine.
Suzuki led off the seventh with a deep drive into the gap, but left fielder Hideki Matsui caught it on the run.
New York broke open the game in the sixth when Jeff Weaver (0-5) started struggling with his control. Weaver walked Jason Giambi with runners on first and third and then hit Hideki Matsui with a pitch to force in a run, making it 2-0.
Jorge Posada had a run-scoring single and Melky Cabrera walked with the bases loaded before Derek Jeter chased Weaver with a two-out, two-run double.
Weaver, who recorded just one out in his previous start, went 5 2-3 innings against the Yankees, allowing six runs and nine hits. He has given up 29 runs and 40 hits in 17 innings over five starts this season.
Bobby Abreu drove in the Yankees’ first run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning.
Notes: Yankees CF Johnny Damon wasn’t in the starting lineup after his right calf cramped up during his last at-bat in Seattle’s 15-11 win Friday night. He is day to day. … Yankees RHP Darrell Rasner was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and RHP Colter Bean was sent down. Rasner will start against the Mariners on Sunday. … Mariners 3B Adrian Beltre and DH Jose Vidro got the day off.
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