10/16/2024

Difference Between A No-Hitter and A Perfect Game

There is something special about watching a pitcher in total control of the game. He sets his baseball glove just below his eyes before he throws to each batter and his stare is simply menacing. Every first pitch seems to be a strike looking and it seems like the baseball appears as a blur to the batters. It is one of the most exciting moments in sports when a pitcher is locked in. Even more exciting is when you realize in the late innings that no batter has yet to reach first base by way of a hit. But wait...has the pitcher's performance thus far put them in line for the rare no-hitter or the nearly unthinkable perfect game?

Keep reading if you want to know the difference between these two impressive pitching feats and learn a bit of baseball history along the way!

The best way for us to start is simple define both a no-hiiter and a perfect game:

What is a No-Hitter?

A no-hitter is a completed game in which one team's pitcher (or pitchers) allow zero hits.

And to be as clear as possible, Major League Baseball defines a "hit" as "when a batter strikes the baseball into fair territory and reaches base without doing so via an error or a fielder's choice."

So as long as an individual team's pitcher (or pitchers) prevent every batter from the opposing squad from hitting a fair baseball that isn't scored as an error or fielder's choice, then their performance has earned the designation of a no-hitter. Because of this, a game can be considered a no-hitter even if the team had runners on base. Believe it or not, a pitcher can throw a no-hitter and even lose the game. For example, a pitcher could toss a game where he issues 4 walks and his defense commits 3 errors which all cause runs to come around and score.

An example of this occurred on May 15th, 2022 when Hunter Greene of Cincinnati combined with his bullpen to throw a no-hitter against Pittsburgh. In the eighth inning, Greene walked two batters and was pulled from the game. His teammate, Art Warren, then walked another batter to load the bases. Then Warren issued a fielder's choice to score the game's lone run. Cincy ended up losing 1-0 that afternoon. Check out the details of the game below:

It is a pretty special event to witness a no-hitter as just 326 of them had been recorded at the close of the 2024 reular season. However, if you took in a large number Nolan Ryan's games during his career, there is a shot you could have taken in a no-hitter as the Ryan Express earned 7 of them during his career that spanned from 1969 to 1993.

What is a Perfect Game?

A perfect game is a completed game in which no batter for one lineup successfully reaches base.

At the college and professional levels, where they play nine innings, a perfect game requires 27 batters to come to the plate and all 27 to make an out (assuming the team throwing the perfect game has scored at least one run).

In a perfect game, no walks can be issued. As well, your defense can't let you down by making an error. If you allow no hits or walks, but your team commits an error and a batter readhes base, the perfect game is spoiled.

At the close of the 2023 regular season, only 24 perfect games have been registered by pitchers at baseball's highest level. If you happen to be in attendance for one of these, be sure to save the ticket stub as it's a unicorn of an event to behold.

The most recent perfect game performance was earned by New York's Domingo German on June 28th, 2023. Check out the final out from that game below:

27 up. 27 down.

The 24th perfect game in AL/NL history belongs to Domingo Germán. pic.twitter.com/SyUJb0cKm6
— MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2023

Even though the last perfect game recorded wasn't that long ago, the following stat will put the rarity of a perfect game in context for you. Before Domingo German hurled his perfecto in 2023, it had been 10 years, 10 months and 13 days since the last perfect game had been thrown by Felix Hernandez on August 15th, 2012.

And as you mave have guessed, no pitcher has ever recorded two perfect games in their career.

What is the Difference Between a No-Hitter and a Perfect Game?

The difference between a no-hitter and a perfect game is that in a perfect game no batter can reach first base safely at any point during the game while they technically can do so during a no-hitter. A pitcher can allow a batter to reach base by walk, error or dropped third strike and still record a no-hitter as long as no hits were recorded. That cannot occur if a perfect game is registered by a pitcher.

What is Rarer Than a Perfect Game?

Believe it or not, there is a single-game feat that can be attained by a batter that is rarer than a perfect game. It is the feat of hitting four homeruns in a single game. Major League Baseball reports that only 18 four homer games have been achieved by batters in its history at the close of the 2023 season.

The rarity of this feat could be skewed a little bit when compared to the perfect game. Since baseball's beginnings, pitchers have seemingly always had a "realistic chance" to throw a perfect game due to the conditions of play. However, for batters, the Deadball Era (1900-1920) provided conditions that especially prevented the chance that homeruns would occur. Baseballs were rarely swapped out during games and pitchers were allowed to employ the spitball. The result was the use an extra dense ball that couldn't be hit long distances. If it weren't for that era of baseball, then there may well be more than 18 men who have achieved a four homer game.

Of the men that have connected with four long balls in a single game, there have been a few that would be considered a real surpise to achieve the feat. One of the more recent examples came in 2017 when Scooter Gennett of the Cincinnati Reds hit four homeruns on June 6th, 2017. In his entire career that lasted from 2013 to 2019, he hit just 87 homeruns, but on that June day his wood bat connected with 4 baseballs in one game that cleared the fence. Watch below:

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Filed Under: Baseball Terms MLB Technology & Terminology