Before this month, an affiliated minor-league baseball team hadn’t thrown a nine-inning perfect game since 2017.
The Greensboro Grasshoppers, High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, have now done it twice in 10 days.
Four pitchers combined to retire 27 straight batters Sunday, leading Greensboro to a 4-0 victory over the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Tampa Bay Rays affiliate.
It came 10 days after three Greensboro pitchers combined to throw a perfect game in a 2-0 win over Aberdeen on July 4.
???? ANOTHER GREENSBORO PERFECT GAME ????
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) July 13, 2025
9 days ago, the @GSOHoppers threw a perfecto!
Now @Pirates prospects Hung-Leng Chang, Joshua Loeschorn, Jake Shirk + Jarod Bayless combine to DO IT AGAIN ‼️ pic.twitter.com/Epd5z67se3
On Sunday, Hung-Leng Chang started for the Grasshoppers and fanned five in five perfect innings. Joshua Loeschorn followed with two perfect frames, including a strikeout. Jake Shirk and Jarod Bayless threw one inning each.
Shirk was the only pitcher to appear in both perfect games. He worked two innings July 4 against Aberdeen.
Chang, a 23-year-old right from Taiwan, is 5-4 with a 5.30 this season. Loeschorn, 25, was the Pirates’ 20th-round pick in 2022 out of Long Island University. He’s 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA in nine relief appearances this season.
Shirk, 23, was the Pirates’ 18th round pick out of Wright State in the 2024 draft. He’s 6-3 with a 4.01 ERA in 29 relief appearances this season. Bayless, 28, is 3-5 with a 4.73 ERA this season split between starting and relieving.
With a 15-6 record, Greensboro is the top team in the High-A South Atlantic League in the second half of the season.
