Dave Roberts is playing the long game with Clayton Kershaw, robbing the latter of a perfect game Wednesday.
The Dodgers pulled Kershaw after seven perfect innings against the Minnesota Twins. The legendary left-hander had thrown just 80 pitches when Roberts made the decision, and LA was holding a comfortable 6-0 lead at the time.
On one hand, you can see why Roberts wants to play it cautiously with Kershaw. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 34 years old and has battled injury issues in recent seasons. Kershaw also is far more valuable to LA in October in the playoffs than he is in his first regular-season start of the year against the Twins. This is a long-term play for a team that expects to contend for a world title, and having Kershaw healthy when it matters most is quite important.
That being said, pulling Kershaw after 80 relatively stress-free pitches is a bit of a bummer. While Kershaw does have a no-hitter in his career, a perfect game is on another level, even for a future Hall of Famer like Kershaw.
The decision wasn’t a popular one among baseball fans and media.
And, of course, the Dodgers lost the perfect game in the eighth inning.
It appears this will work out better for Roberts than his last quick hook. He infamously pulled Rich Hill in Game 4 of the 2018 World Series, despite the fact Hill had allowed just one hit over six innings. The Red Sox stormed back to erase a four-run lead on the way to a win that gave them a 3-1 lead in the series.
Roberts can take solace in the fact he won’t hear it from a certain ex-president this time around — at least not on Twitter.
