Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw Involved in the Decision to Come Out of the Perfect Game
Dodgers fans really wanted to see Clayton Kershaw finish off his perfect game. Baseball fans in general wanted to see it. Through 7 innings of work, Kersh carved through the Twins lineup for 13 strikeouts and almost no hard contact. Out of the 8 balls put into play, only Gio Urshela’s 7th inning groundout was above 90 mph on exit velocity.
He was rolling. But Kersh also finished the 7th inning with 80 pitches under his belt, far more than the Dodgers expected to push him. That led to Dave Roberts pulling him out of the game after that 7th inning, which did not go over well with fans online.
But according to Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior, the decision also came down to Kershaw. He spoke about it on MLB Network and said that as much as it was a team decision, it also fell on him to make the call as well. And he knew exactly what the right answer was.
“With Clayton, he’s been doing this for a very very long time. He knows exactly where his body is, and what he’s done and what he needs to be able to do to compete every turn in the rotation. We got him up to 75 pitches in a simulated game last week on Opening Day.”
So while all of the heat seems to be falling on Dave Roberts, it does seem to have been a group decision. Kershaw was even seen in the dugout smiling and hugging teammates and coaches after he was apparently told that would be it for him. The Dodgers hurler also supported the decision in the postgame.
Dodgers Related: New Changes to the Stadium in 2022
Despite all of that, the blame from fans is still being pushed onto Doc. They wanted to see the perfect game, and we all did. And Kersh absolutely would have liked to have tried to finish it out. But it’s difficult to argue with the decision given the background.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
Dodgers: Max Muncy Admits His Elbow Might Not Be Healed For a Long Time