Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics pitched a perfect game on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history, a dazzling performance for the Athletics in a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday in Oakland.

Braden threw his arms in the air after Gabe Kapler grounded out to shortstop for the final out. The closest the Rays got to a hit was Jason Bartlett's liner to third leading off the game. Evan Longoria tried to bunt against Braden leading off the fifth, drawing boos from the small crowd.

It was the majors' first perfect game since Mark Buehrle of the White Sox didn't allow anyone from the Rays to get on base on July 24, 2009 and the second no-hitter this season after Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez pulled it off in Atlanta on April 17.

"Pretty cool," Braden said. "I don't know what to think about it just yet. There's definitely a select group. I'd like to have a career more than today."

Braden pitched the A's first perfect game since Hall of Famer Jim (Catfish) Hunter's gem on May 8, 1968, against the Minnesota Twins. Only 6,298 were there to witness it. Sunday's crowd at the Coliseum wasn't much better: 12,228.

Braden (4-2) wasn't fazed by anything, throwing two-strike changeups and getting quick outs against a Rays team that lost on the road for just the third time this year. He struck out six in the 109-pitch performance, throwing 77 strikes in his 53rd career start.

Braden's teammates mobbed him when the Mother's Day masterpiece was over, leaving bats and gloves scattered on the field. The left-hander pointed to the sky in honour of his mom, Jodie Atwood, who died of cancer when he was a high school senior. He shared a long and tearful hug with his grandmother, who raised him, in front of the dugout.

"It hasn't been a joyous day for me in a while," Braden said. "With my grandma in the stands, it makes it a lot better."

Braden's perfect game was the sixth no-hitter in Oakland history. The 26-year-old Braden, a native of nearby Stockton, was a 24th-round draft pick by the A's in 2004.

Before Sunday, the crafty lefty had made more of a name for himself for his enraged reaction to Alex Rodriguez walking across the mound back on April 22, when he beat Yankees ace CC Sabathia.

The squabble was still making news leading up to this start, and they were going back and forth in recent days. On Friday in Boston, A-Rod said he didn't want "to extend his extra 15 minutes of fame."

A-Rod struck a far more conciliatory tone Sunday.

"I've learned in my career that it's always better to be remembered for some of the good things you do on the field, and good for him," Rodriguez said before facing Boston. "He threw a perfect game. And, even better, he beat the Rays."

Braden insisted Friday that was all history — then two days later he made his own history. It was his first career complete game, no less.

Last Mother's Day, Braden was hit by a line drive by Vernon Wells.

"You know, a year later you don't expect anything like this," he said. "I'm just happy to be putting on the costume a year later."