Clayton Kershaw gets real on his near-perfect game

Dave Roberts just became public enemy number 1 among baseball fans all over the world. He pulled Clayton Kershaw out of a perfect game after just 80 pitches and seven innings. The Dodgers’southpaw turned back the clock and struck out 13 of the 21 hitters he faced.

Kershaw— who has never thrown a perfect game— was making his first start of what could be his final season. He struggled with injuries in 2021 and wasn’t even a lock to be on the mound this season at all.

Alex Vesia eventually surrendered a hit in the eightand ruined the combined perfect game. But nobody even cared about that anymore. Hell, even Dodgers fans had already turned off the TV by that.

MLB News: Kershaw Doesn’t Blame Dave Roberts For Pulling Him Out

But even though Roberts stopped him from potentially making history, Kershaw claims that his manager was right to handle his pitch count. Then again, it’s not like he could’ve said anything different:

“Blame it on the lockout, blame it on me not picking up a baseball until January,” the southpaw said after the game, per MLB.com.“My slider was horrible the last two innings. It didn’t have the bite. It was time.”

“At the end of the day, those are individual things, those are selfish goals,” Kershaw said. “We’re trying to win. That’s really all we’re here for. As much as I would have wanted to do it, I’ve thrown 75 pitches in a sim game. I hadn’t gone six innings, let alone seven. Sure, I would have loved to do it, but maybe we get another chance. Who knows?”

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Dave Roberts Doesn’t Regret His Decision

Roberts also stood by his decision by stating that it was the best for the player and the ballclub. Yeah, the same Roberts who’s infamously overworked his starters with no rest in every postseason series:

“I think if I can look back and I feel it’s the best decision — in the best interest of the player’s health and for the ballclub — looking out, then I feel good about it,” the skipper said. “But those guys make it tough on me. But we have good players.”

“He’s pretty honest and understanding of where he was at, how he was feeling, what’s at stake — the win, the no-hitter, the potential health risk, all that stuff matters,” Roberts added. “There’s no right, 100% answer, but in this case I felt it was very clear to me the right decision was, ‘Give us seven great innings and hand the ball off to the next guy.’”

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Kershaw has already done it all in the league. He’s literally won every single thing a pitcher can win and his career will end in Cooperstown. But there have only been 23 perfect games in MLB history.

Regardless of the shortened Spring Training. Regardless of the pitch count. Even if he couldn’t throw again this season, he’s earned that right. He deserved to make even more history. And they wonder why people say baseball is dying.