David Cone, David Wells The Pitchers Who Threw Perfect Games For New York During The Regular Season

On the diamond sometimes pitchers are perfect sometimes they’re not but for former New York pitcher, current Yes Network analyst. David Cone he threw a perfect game

When?

On July 18, 1999 David Cone finished the game with eighty-eight pitches and sixty eight strikes. “according to https://www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/07181999.shtml

How did the twenty-seven Montreal Expos batters go down? Thirteen fly outs, ten strikeouts and four groundouts. “according to https://www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/07181999.shtml

But he wasn’t the only pitcher who threw a perfect game while in pinstripes during the regular season as David Wells also pitched a perfect game during the regular season but unlike David Cone David Wells perfect game came on May 17, 1998.

The Yankees were a runaway leader in the American League East, while the opposing Minnesota Twins were staggering along, well below .500 but in second place in the AL Central. The Twins fielded a lineup of few recognizable names and six batters hitting .250 or below. “according to https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Wells, who the New York writers like to call the "Hefty Lefty" because of his ample girth, carried a 4-1 record into the game. Two starts earlier, he had nearly blown a 9-0 lead and had gotten into a loud argument afterward with Yankees manager Joe Torre. Wells won his next start, 3-2, while retiring the final 10 batters he faced.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

The Twins sent rookie LaTroy Hawkins, owner of 2-3 record, to the mound. But he was no match for the powerful Wells, who was pitching just three days short of his 35th birthday.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

That's because Wells was perfect. He faced 27 Twins and retired them all, striking out 11. Ironically, the only other Yankees pitcher to have fired a perfect game was Don Larsen in 1956, and he and Wells both graduated from the same Point Loma High School in San Diego.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Mixing a baffling assortment of fastballs, curves and changeups, Wells throttled the Twins with hardly a whimper. Wells went to a three-ball count only four times while throwing 120 pitches of which 79 were strikes. Only seven balls were hit to the outfield. He struck out the side once - in the third inning - and fanned at least one batter in every inning except the first and eighth.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

The Yanks didn't need to make any sparkling defensive plays to preserve the perfect game. The Twins hit only one ball reasonably hard. That was an eighth inning shot by Ron Coomer. Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, who had made two errors the day before, took a couple of steps to his right and knocked down the hard one-hopper with a backhanded stab. Knoblauch then picked up the ball and threw to first to get the out. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Otherwise, Wells was completely in command. He started by getting Matt Lawton on a fly to left, Brent Gates on a fly to shallow left and Paul Molitor on a grounder to second.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Wells mowed down the Twins inning after inning. In the third, he fanned Jon Shave, Javier Valentin, and Pat Meares. He whiffed Marty Cordova and Coomer in the fifth and Shave and Valentin in the sixth. “according to https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Bernie Williams gave Wells plenty of offensive support. In the second, Williams doubled, went to third on a passed ball by Valentin and scored on a wild pitch by Hawkins. He homered to right with two outs in the fourth. In the seventh, Williams doubled and scored on a triple by Darryl Strawberry, who then came home on a single by Chad Curtis.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Wells had a close call in the seventh. He went to consecutive 3-2 counts on Gates, who grounded out, and Molitor. With two outs the count went to full on the dangerous Molitor. But Wells escaped the jam as Molitor went down swinging.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

The Yanks southpaw coasted into the eighth with a 4-0 lead. He got Cordova on a grounder that Derek Jeter bobbled briefly to start the inning. CoomerAlex Ochoa popped out to Tino Martinez at first.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Shave flied out to Paul O'Neill in shallow right to open the ninth. Valentin followed with his third strikeout of the game. The final out came when Meares lifted a lazy fly to right that O'Neill one-handed near the line.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01

Wells went on to have a glittering season, posting an 18-4 record.https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=wellsda01