The Greensboro Grasshoppers pitched a combined perfect game on Friday, July 4, the first perfect game from a minor league affiliate of any big league club since 2017. Nine days later the Pirates’ High-A affiliate did it again.
Pirates’ 2023 12th round draft pick Khristian Curtis, who put the Grasshoppers on the road to baseball immortality by striking out ten batters across six innings, said the fateful day at the ballpark began as one of the worst he’d ever experienced.
“I had custom cleats for the Fourth of July and they just didn’t feel right,” Curtis said. “I had a terrible bullpen going into the game, probably the worst I’ve ever had: I tried to change things up, switch my cleats.”
Curtis’ shaky pitching continued even after the cleat change. He fell behind 3-0 against his first two batters faced, but managed to battle back for a swinging strikeout and a line drive to second.
Curtis then needed another eight pitches to retire the third better and escape the inning, leaving him at 20 pitches despite the clean frame.
“I got into a couple of 3-0 counts in the first inning, so when I went back to the dugout it felt like I’d let a guy on base,” Curtis said. “I realized I hadn’t allowed any baserunners in probably the fifth inning, so I told my first and third basemen to watch out, maybe they’ll try to drop a bunt and break something up.”
At the time Curtis gave his infielders a heads up, however, he barely needed the help. Firing on all cylinders, he fanned five batters in his last two innings of work — catching two of them looking — and struck out the side in the sixth.
Passing the Baton
Many baseball purists, fans and professionals alike, frown on the idea of more than one pitcher taking part in single game feats like a perfect game or no-hitter. Even so, Curtis said he knew his day was done following the sixth inning. He couldn’t argue with Greensboro manager Blake Butler to let him go back out for the seventh, as the call came from higher up in the Pirates’ organization.
“I was ready to pass the baton at that point. I knew in the Pirates’ organization they have certain pitch counts coaches have to follow, so I knew I had 90 pitches that day,” Curtis said. “Had 86 pitches at the end of the sixth, so they debated one batter in the seventh but didn’t want me to get into a deep count. I knew I was coming out at that point.”
Enter reliever Jake Shirk, a 2024 18th round pick who struck out four batters in two innings during his moment to hold the line. Bullpen arms are used to high leverage situations, but did Shirk feel added pressure taking the ball with perfection on the line?
Quite the contrary. He didn’t even know he was stepping into history. The only of the Pirates’ pitchers to appear in both perfect games, Shirk knew the circumstances his second time around.
“I felt a lot more pressure the second time because I knew it was a perfect game,” Shirk said. “You can’t make the moment any bigger than it is. I’m not a big superstitious guy.”
Just Be Ready
Greensboro held a 2-0 lead when Shirk entered on July 4; on July 13, he took the mound in the eighth inning with a 4-0 cushion, but said that didn’t impact the pressure he felt.
“Score never affects me as a bullpen guy, just have to be ready,” Shirk said.
After mowing through six batters his first time out, Shirk needed ten pitches to retire his first during his second chance at perfection, nibbling around the corners — and inducing four foul balls — before prevailing, forcing a line drive to center. From there he settled in, working a two pitch fly ball and a six pitch swinging strikeout to send the game to the ninth.
During the Grasshoppers’ first perfect game, the ninth inning qualified as a save situation. Greensboro used both Michael Walsh and Landon Tomkins — now both with Double-A Altoona — as their closers this season rather than giving one pitcher a dedicated role: while Walsh got the call that day, only ten of his 38 appearances came in a save situation.
Unlike Shirk, Walsh said he leaned into the pressure of the moment.
“It was very loud, and I don’t mean the crowd. I mean the noise between my ears. Just tried to embrace that energy and hold the line,” Walsh said. “It was definitely electric. Fourth of July, America’s Birthday, ready to celebrate this great country of ours. I had a banger walk out song and went to the mound ready to chuck the ball through the catcher’s face mask.”
Amped though he was, Walsh’s command didn’t suffer. He landed his first five pitches for strikes and nine of ten overall, picking up two strikeouts to put the finishing touch on perfection.
Entering History
Some fans, athletes and broadcasters try not to mention when a perfect game or no-hitter is taking place, worried that the recognition will prevent it from happening. The gregarious closer, a 2022 ninth round pick out of Yale, said he’s played the spoiler in that fashion several times this season, but he didn’t shy away from mentioning it again.
“I knew it was a perfect game. I’ve probably jinxed it five to seven times,” Walsh said. “I thought of it as a reverse jinx — I don’t know if that makes sense — but just get the monkey off our backs.”
While he noted that there’s less of a routine when pitching out of the bullpen, a role where pitchers might need to scramble to warm up the second the phone starts ringing, Walsh said he did have some extra luck on his side that day.
“I wear the same blue undies every game,” Walsh said. “There’s less superstition out of the bullpen. You might be scheduled for a certain game but you never know for sure.”
Walsh also made sure to credit the Grasshoppers’ bats for their performance this season. Their 79-33 record as of Saturday, Aug. 16 gives them the best record of any team in the major and minor leagues, even if it’s their pitching performances that put Greensboro on the map.
“We’ve been moving the lumber this season and intend to do so moving forward,” Walsh said. “I think we’ve got the best record in baseball, and the perfect games brought a lot of attention, but the Hoppers are on an absolute heater right now.”