Thomas Pannone Throws First Solo Minor League Perfect Game Since 2017

Thomas Pannone spent 2025 rehabbing a torn flexor tendon in his left forearm. He didn't pitch an inning all year, according to MLB.com. On Monday, he threw a perfect game.

The 32-year-old left-hander retired all 27 Durham Bulls batters he faced, needing just 94 pitches, as his Triple-A Nashville Sounds beat Durham 3-0, according to MLB.com and Sportsnet. He struck out eight, walked none, and allowed zero hits. Sixty-one of his 94 pitches were strikes, per MLB.com.

It's the first nine-inning, single-pitcher perfect game anywhere in Minor League Baseball since 2017, according to MLB Pipeline, as cited by MLB.com, Sports Illustrated, and Sportsnet. That year saw two: Tyler Mahle for Double-A Pensacola on April 22, 2017, and Domenic Mazza for Class A Augusta three days later.

The outing is also the third perfect game in Nashville Sounds franchise history, joining John Wasdin's in 2003 and Manny Parra's in 2007, according to MLB.com. It's the fifth solo perfect game in the 142-year history of the International League, which dates to 1884, according to multiple outlets including Fox News and Sportsnet.

There's a wrinkle in the record book, though. MLB.com lists the league's prior nine-inning perfect games as Chet Carmichael for Buffalo in 1910, Tomo Ohka for Pawtucket in 2000, Bronson Arroyo for Pawtucket in 2003, and Justin Germano for Columbus in 2011. Fan 1075 lists a different name in that same slot: Dick Marlowe, pitching for the Buffalo Bisons in 1952, alongside Ohka, Arroyo, and Germano. The two sources agree on three of the four prior games but diverge on who threw the first one and when.

Sports Illustrated pointed out that Pannone did it without a single pitch cracking 92 mph, his fastest offering topping out at 91.2 mph, a detail the outlet sourced to Codify Baseball on X. In an era where velocity dominates pitching conversations, a 32-year-old journeyman locating an average fastball got the job done.

The ninth inning brought the only real tension. Facing the 27th batter with a perfect game and a 3-0 lead on the line, Pannone fell behind in the count, risking a walk that would have ended the bid, according to Fox News. He came back with consecutive strikes to close it out.

Among his eight strikeouts were two hitters with big-league track records, Nick Madrigal and Jack Suwinski, according to Fan 1075.

A long road back

Cleveland drafted Pannone in the ninth round out of the College of Southern Nevada in 2013. He debuted with the Toronto Blue Jays in August 2018 and, in that debut, carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Baltimore, according to Fox News. In April 2019 he threw an immaculate inning against Tampa Bay, striking out the side on nine pitches; Sportsnet dates that outing to April 14, 2019.

Toronto designated him for assignment in 2020. Since then he's pitched in the minor league systems of the Angels, Red Sox, Cubs, Yankees, and Brewers, plus a stint in the Korean Baseball Organization with the Kia Tigers in 2022 and 2023, according to MLB.com and Sportsnet.

Milwaukee signed Pannone to a minor league deal in November 2024. He made one big-league appearance for the Brewers on July 29 of this year against the San Francisco Giants, his first MLB outing in three years, allowing three hits and two earned runs over three innings, according to Fan 1075.

For his career, Pannone carries a 7-8 record and 5.47 ERA across 51 major league appearances for the Blue Jays and Brewers, with 104 strikeouts in 121 2/3 innings, according to Sports Illustrated. In the minors, he's logged more than 1,000 career innings.

The most recent big-league perfect game came from Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán in June 2023, one of only 24 in MLB history, according to MLB.com. Whether Pannone gets another shot at Milwaukee's roster before the season ends is an open question. Nashville's win improved his record to 5-3 with a 4.23 ERA on the year, according to Fan 1075, numbers unlikely to stay buried in Triple-A for long if he keeps pitching like this.