Yankees’ Wang flirts with a perfect game

Chien-Ming Wang was nearly unhittable Saturday. Perfect, in fact, before one misplaced changeup.

Wang took a perfect game into the eighth inning before Ben Broussard hit the only changeup he threw all day for a one-out homer, and the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-1.

Catcher Jorge Posada knew the changeup was in trouble from the start. Wang said he left the ball “high.”

“As soon as he threw it,” Posada said, “I was just hoping the guy didn’t swing at it.”

Facing a team that got season highs of 15 runs and 20 hits the previous night, Wang (1-2) was in complete control. The Mariners struggled to do anything with his heavy sinker.

Wang got Richie Sexson to roll back to him for the first out of the eighth, but Broussard followed with a home run to right-center.

“It’d feel better if we had won,” Broussard said. “But, definitely, I think everybody’s a competitor. Nobody wants to get no-hit.”

Jose Guillen then singled, but Kenji Johjima bounced into a double play to end the inning.

“You’re disappointed, naturally,” shortstop Derek Jeter said. “You’re disappointed for him because you don’t know when you’re going to get the opportunity again.”

Randy Johnson has the last perfect game in the majors, for Arizona at Atlanta on May 18, 2004.

“He threw the ball so well today,” third baseman Alex Rodriguez said. “It was exciting. I don’t get to appreciate how well his ball moves from where I play. I’m just consumed with the thought that I’m going to be busy.”