Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay throws perfect game against Florida

He followed the ball into Juan Castro’s glove at third. He rotated his head and body, watching the throw cut through the humid South Florida Saturday night until it hit Ryan Howard’s glove at first.

With that, Roy Halladay pounded a fist into his glove, outstretched his arms and waited for catcher Carlos Ruiz to accept the embrace. The battery mates quickly disappeared into a bobbing mass of gray and red on the Sun Life Stadium infield as they celebrated one of the rarest and most special feats in baseball.

Halladay threw the 20th perfect game in the sport’s history -- the eighth in the National League -- as the Phillies topped Josh Johnson and the Marlins 1-0 on an unearned run. It was the second perfect game by a Phillies pitcher. Jim Bunning pitched the first one against the Mets on June 21, 1964.

“Once you think it’s possible is probably two outs in the ninth,” said Halladay, who had pitched complete-game one-hitters twice, the last coming against the Yankees on Sept. 4, 2009, while with the Blue Jays. “Up to that point, obviously, you’re aware of it, but it’s never something you think is possible. Really, once I got to two outs it felt like I had a chance. It’s not something you expect.”

The Marlins sent up three pinch-hitters in the ninth. Mike Lamb gave a 2-1 pitch a ride to straightaway center, but it died at the warning track. Wes Helms took a called strike three for the last of Halladay’s 11 strikeouts and Ronny Paulino hit the aforementioned bouncer to end it.

Saturday marked the second time the Marlins have been no-hit. Ramon Martinez did it on July 14, 1995, at Dodger Stadium.

As Luis Enrique and Jerry Rivera entertained fans with a postgame concert, the grounds crew dug up the pitching rubber to give to Halladay.

“Look who’s pitching,” Marlins right fielder Cody Ross said. “It’s Roy Halladay. He’s the best pitcher in baseball. It’s not embarrassing. He’s a Cy Young award winner. He did exactly what he needed to do tonight. He executed every pitch, it seemed like.”

One of the Marlins’ best chances at a hit came in the sixth, when Cameron Maybin bounced a 3-1 Halladay pitch toward the hole between short and third. Wilson Valdez, filling in for the injured Jimmy Rollins, planted and made a strong throw to get the speedy Maybin by a step.

“When I hit a ball like that I always smell a base hit,” Maybin said. “He made a great play, great throw.”

Third baseman Juan Castro saved another hit in the eighth, when from his knees he snared a one-hopper by Jorge Cantu and threw him out at first. That was the hardest hit ball of the night off Halladay, who recorded eight groundouts and eight fly-ball outs.

“You have to have those kinds of plays in order to do something like that,” Halladay said. “It’s a lot of luck, a little bit of execution and defense.”

It appeared Chris Coghlan and Hanley Ramirez thought home plate umpire Mike DiMuro was a little generous with his strike zone. In the first and seventh innings, the two players started moving to first thinking they had drawn walks. On each occasion they were called out on strikes.

Halladay went to three-ball counts on seven hitters during the 115-pitch performance. Six Marlins saw 2-0 pitches. The results: Three foul balls, two called strikes and one swinging strike.

Johnson hung tough through seven innings. He departed having totaled a career-high 121 pitches.

He had a consecutive-inning scoreless streak that came to an end at 20 when Maybin played a Chase Utley liner into a run-scoring, three-base error. That unearned run was the lone blemish on Johnson’s line.

Johnson struck out six and allowed one intentional walk. He lowered his ERA from 2.43 to 2.19. A day earlier, Johnson had referred to Halladay as the best right-handed pitcher in baseball.

On Saturday Johnson said: “He just kind of proved it.”

jcrodriguez@sun-sentinel.com