Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts Pulls Clayton Kershaw After Seven Perfect Innings And 80 Pitches

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Clayton Kershaw was just pulled after seven stellar innings and 13 strikeouts, even though it looked like he was well on his way to finishing off this game. It’s understandable the Dodgers want to be careful with Kershaw, given his injury-plagued 2021 campaign, but you can’t pull him there. He had a perfect game going on 80 pitches.

There have been 23 perfect games in MLB history, and Roberts should have let Kershaw try for No. 24.

Kershaw put on a master display of pitching today against a solid Twins lineup that just added Carlos Correa to the mix. Combine the lineup he just mowed through in order with the fact that he threw just ONE pitch over 91 miles an hour all day. That’s pretty amazing, considering velocity is all any pitching coach or sports network talks about these days.

Goes to show location and movement still have a place in this game, and Clayton Kershaw is healthy enough to throw that combination together like he did back when he was hoisting NL Cy Young awards. Check out some of the nasty pitches he threw today:

And we couldn’t have a perfect game bid without an eye-popping defensive play:

Clayton KershawDave RobertsLos Angeles DodgersMLBPerfect Game

Written by Gary Sheffield, Jr

Gary Sheffield Jr is the son of should-be MLB Hall of Famer, Gary Sheffield. He covers basketball and baseball for OutKick.com, chats with the Purple and Gold faithful on LakersNation, and shitposts on Twitter. You can follow him at GarySheffieldJr

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  1. This is why baseball can be so damn frustrating to watch. It’s all about the fucking pitch count! Let this man, one of the best in the business, to go the distance in an attempt to seek perfection in his craft. Greg Maddox earned a place in the HOF and he did it with guile, placement, making the hitter second guess, painting the black, hitting the corners, and generally making major league hitters look foolish. As Kershaw gets older and wiser, he is much the same as Maddox was as a pitcher.

    Kershaw is great and Dave Roberts, and all managers, need to understand that sometimes, in those rare times where the player creates the moment, then let your first strategy instincts take a back seat and instead, take the measure of a man’s heart and let him see if he can make history.

    Kershaw was owed that chance and it was taken away from him, and the fans watching. A shame.

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