PITTSBURGH – Nick Kingham waited a long, long time to make it to a major league mound. When he finally got there, the moment was nearly perfect.
He started better than anyone in more than a half-century, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning of his big-league debut and leading the Pittsburgh Pirates over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 Sunday.
Kingham retired the first 20 batters before Paul DeJong singled down the left-field line with two outs in the seventh.
"That's how you plan it up, not to let anybody on," Kingham said. "It's incredible how it happened. Just kind of starting from the get-go, it went well. … It's corny, but it took everybody. I'm really fortunate and really happy about it."
The Elias Sports Bureau said no pitcher in the Expansion Era — since 1961 — had taken a perfect game bid so far in his debut. Wayne Simpson of the Reds in 1970 and Ken Cloude of the Mariners in 1997 each set down their first 16 batters.
"I was like, 'You know what, it was a good run, man. It was fun while it lasted,' " Kingham said.
Once a top Pirates prospect, Kingham's career was interrupted by Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. The 26-year-old was 43-41 over nine seasons in the minors before getting called up from Class AAA Indianapolis for a spot start.
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