Just the other day, Mark Buehrle pitched the 18th perfect game in the history of baseball.  The man faced 27 batters, and 27 batters went down.  No walks.  No batters hit.  No runners on the entire game.

He almost did it again.  Tonight, it wasn’t a perfect game, but Buehrle did set a major league record.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle set a major league record by retiring 45 straight batters.

Coming off a perfect game in his last start against Tampa Bay, Buehrle retired the first 17 Minnesota Twins batters on Tuesday night to surpass the record of 41 straight set by and San Francisco’s Jim Barr in 1972 and tied by teammate Bobby Jenks, a reliever, in 2007.

Buehrle retired 27 in a row against the Rays in his last start, the 18th perfect game in baseball history, then breezed through the first five innings against the Twins to break the record.

His bid for a second consecutive perfect game — no pitcher in baseball history has ever achieved the feat — ended with a walk to Alexi Casilla on a close call with two outs in the sixth. The Metrodome crowd stood and cheered after the walk, trying to rattle Buehrle. Then Denard Span followed with a single to break up the no-hitter.

The Sox lost this one, but Buehrle’s in the books twice now.

Congratulations, Mark.