Twitter Roasts Dodgers For Pulling Kershaw Out Of Perfect Game Opportunity
By Jason Hall
April 13, 2022
The Los Angeles Dodgers weren't going to let Clayton Kershaw exceed his pitch limit, even in a perfect game situation.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled the three-time Cy Young Award winner with just five outs remaining in the game, despite Kershaw having allowed zero hits or walks and Los Angeles having no defensive errors.
Kershaw -- who previously threw a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies on June 18, 2014 -- made his 2022 season debut in Wednesday's (April 13) 7-0 win against the Minnesota Twins and had struck out 13 hitters on 80 pitches.
Still, the former NL MVP told reporters he agreed with Roberts, calling the move "the right decision" via MLB.com.
"Blame it on the lockout. Blame it on my not picking up a ball for three months (and during the offseason)," Kershaw said via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California Newspaper Group.
#Dodgers Clayton Kershaw says it was “the right decision” to pull him after 80 pitches. “Blame it on the lockout. Blame it on my not picking up a ball for three months (during the offseason)”
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) April 13, 2022
Many Twitter users, however, disagreed, sharing their displeasure of Roberts' decision to yank Kershaw less than two full innings shy of a perfect game.
If it's a no-hitter, whatever. Yank him. Clayton Kershaw has thrown one.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 13, 2022
But there have been more than 220,000 games in MLB history. There have been 23 perfect games.
Everything -- especially a pitch count of 80 -- is lining up to at least let Kershaw try. You cannot pull him.
Pulling Clayton Kershaw six outs away from a perfect game at 80 pitches should be a crime punishable by up to 90 years in prison. Come on.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) April 13, 2022
Kershaw getting taken out 6 outs away from a perfect game pic.twitter.com/2pweXpfT7x
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) April 13, 2022
Clayton Kershaw getting pulled from this perfect game after just 80 pitches is everything that’s wrong with new school baseball. Real great way to draw new fans in. Dave Roberts should be ashamed
— Tommy Smokes (@TomScibelli) April 13, 2022
Clayton Kershaw Perfect game 80 pitches, take him OUT !!!!! WHAT THE! what’s the game coming to?1 of the era’s best, and you take him out with a perfect game in the 7th, 7-0 Dodgers winning. Take him OUT! THIS IS BASEBALL PLEASE PEOPLE THAT HAVE NEVER PLAYED GET OUT OF ITS WAY
— Reggie Jackson (@mroctober) April 13, 2022
🗣️ LET CLAYTON KERSHAW FINISH WHAT HE STARTED
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHarrisTBLA) April 13, 2022
Roberts -- a former NL Manager of the Year (2016) and two-time World Series champion both as a player for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and as the Dodgers' manager in 2020 -- had previously removed Rich Hill from a perfect game opportunity in the seventh inning of the 2016 season due to injury concerns, becoming the first manager in MLB history to substitute a pitcher after seven innings of perfect baseball, according to the Elias Sports Bureau via MLB.com.
The Dodgers have previously thrown 23 combined no-hitters -- the most of any MLB franchise -- including 13 since moving to Los Angeles in 1958.