Pirates' High-A affiliate somehow just doubled down on perfection

As the league heads into the All-Star break, the Pirates' High-A affiliate picked up a remarkable feat - just nine days after doing it for the first time. The Greensboro Grasshoppers pitched another combined perfect game to end the week, shortly after making history by hurling the first in MiLB action since 2017.

The Grasshoppers have put together a solid pitching staff this season with just two arms ranked in the top 30. Khristian Curtis, the Pirates' 24th-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline, led the charge for their first perfecto. Out of nowhere, Hung-Leng Chang led their second perfect game, an unranked prospect who has put together a 5.30 ERA on the season.

Chang started this second perfecto by tossing five innings and striking out five. Joshua Loeschorn followed him with two innings and a strikeout. Jake Shirk and Jarod Bayless added the finishing touches with one inning each. Shirk was the only pitcher in Greensboro that pitched in both perfect games, proving he has that clutch gene in these historic situations.

Putting up a single combined perfect game, with so many moving parts, is absolutely insane. Somehow getting two that fast is downright historical. There has never been a major league team to record two perfect games in a singular season, while Greensboro did it in a nine-day span before the All-Star break. Not saying we should expect a third this season, but baseball can get crazy, and there is a lot of time left to turn this already historic feat into something even more impossible to beat.

Pirates' High-A affiliate in Greensboro tosses historic second perfect game of the season.

Chang started this one off, but has also struggled this season. He has generated a 5.30 ERA with a 4.74 FIP and a 7.70 K/9. This was easily his best outing of the season, so hopefully this can help him turn things around.

The relievers behind him have been much better, starting with Loeschorn. He has generated a 2.61 ERA with a 2.20 FIP and a 8.71 K/9. Shirk has improved since his promotion to Greensboro, lowering his ERA to 4.01 with a 2.85 FIP and an 8.86 K/9. Bayless wraps this group up as a 28-year-old in High-A with a medicore 4.73 ERA, 4.25 FIP, and 9.85 K/9.

This crew marked history once again with this incredible pitching performance. A bunch of under-the-radar arms in this loaded system combined for the second perfect game in just nine days, headlining an incredible Greensboro Grasshoppers squad.