At first glance, there was nothing particularly extraordinary about Thursday's game between the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals. The Royals struck first in the bottom half of the first inning, the Twins answered back in the top of the second inning to tie the game 1-1, then the two teams traded zeroes until the sixth and seventh innings, with Kansas City ultimately emerging victorious by a score of 3-2.
Ho hum.
But over the course of the somewhat-mundane proceedings of the game, MLB umpiring history was made. Home plate umpire Mark Ripperger on Thursday night called a perfect game, just the second time a ball-and-strike caller has done so since tracking began, according to the social media account Umpire Scorecards.
🚨🚨 ALERT: SECOND EVER PERFECT GAME IN UMPSCORECARDS ERA 🚨🚨 https://t.co/SWIxVYLJXk
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) April 11, 2025
Over the course of Thursday's game, Ripperger got every single ball and strike call—136 pitches, to be exact—correct, per Umpire Scorecards's tracking.
Umpire Scorecards, which uses MLB's advanced pitch tracking data to rate the accuracy of home-plate umpires and the impact of their calls on games, first launched on Twitter in 2020. But the site has an extensive database of hundreds of games dating back to 2015.
And there have been just two instances of a home-plate umpire getting every call correct. Former MLB umpire Pat Hoberg called a perfect game in Game 2 of the 2023 World Series. And now Ripperger has joined Hoberg in umpiring lore.
More MLB on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as MLB Umpire Cards Second-Ever Perfect Game in Twins-Royals Contest.
