Umpiring in Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins Game Makes History on Thursday

Mark Ripperger was perfect behind the plate, doing something that has only been done once since 2015.

MLB home plate umpire Mark Ripperger (90) ejects Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Willy Adames (27) (not pictured) as Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Diaz (35) observes in the fifth inning at Coors Field on July 3, 2024. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium. With the win, the Royals are now 7-6 on the season. Minnesota fell to a disappointing 4-9. They are now in fourth place in the American League Central.

Michael Wacha went 5.1 innings in the no-decision, striking out four for Kansas City. Four other relievers combined to help aid the victory, with Carlos Estevez notching his fourth save. Bobby Witt Jr. stayed hot at the beginning of the year, going 2-for-3 with a double. Last year's American League batting champion, Witt is now hitting .280.

However, more impressive than what the players did might have been what home plate umpire Mark Ripperger did. He umpired a perfect game, marking the second time in the Umpire Scorecards era that that has been done. He called 136 pitches in the game and every single one of them was called correctly. The only other time that happened was with Pat Hoberg in the 2022 World Series between the Phillies and Astros.

Mark Ripperger umped the second-ever perfect game in the @UmpScorecards era (2015) last night

The other one was Pat Hoberg in the 2022 World Series pic.twitter.com/IhwDQhbE0i

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 11, 2025

After baseball implemented the challenge system in spring training this year, there's been a lot of talk about the idea of challenging balls and strikes coming to the big leagues. And while that seems likely to happen sooner rather than later, Ripperger showed that humans can still do the job, and very effectively.

The Royals will be back in action on Friday night with first pitch against the Cleveland Guardians coming at 6:10 p.m. ET. The Twins will host the Detroit Tigers at 8:10 p.m. ET.

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