This Wednesday we could have seen history in the MLB, since Clayton Kershaw, the pitcher of Los Angeles Dodgers was on track to make a perfect game, which would have been number 24 in 150 years, but in the seventh inning of the game against the Minnesota Twins, the manager Dave Roberts decided to take him down from the mound and take away that possibility.
Kershaw was having a great time, added 80 pitches to knock out 21 players consecutively; made 13 strikeouts, three rivals made him connect more than five pitches and only allowed three more to bat to the outfield, although none of them could reach first base. However, when everything seemed to indicate that that night we would see something unusual, with six outs to seal the perfect game, the manager took him out of the duel.
Far from being angry about the decision, Clayton Kershaw agreed with what Roberts did, arguing that he knew he would not make it to the end of the game with that good pace and prioritized collective achievements about the individual.
“I knew that my pitch count was not going to be 100. It’s a hard thing to do, quitting a game when you’re doing something like that. We are here to win. It was the right decision”, he explained after the Dodgers’ 0-7 victory.
Dave Roberts receives criticism for the decision
Outside the Dodgers, not everything was hunky-dory and the manager’s decision was not well received, since in addition to many fans on social networks, a former player and a journalist beat the manager for the substitution.
“A feat of a ‘game perfect’ collaborates to attract and catch fans. The managers see another game. Dave Roberts may have let Clayton Kershaw try. It’s a shame,” wrote ESPN journalist David Faitelson on his Twitter account.
Baseball has lost strength in the interest of the fan in the United States. A feat of a “perfect game” collaborates to attract and trap fans.
Managers see another game Dave Roberts may have let Clayton Kershaw try. It’s a shame…— David Faitelson (@Faitelson_ESPN) April 14, 2022
On the other hand, former pitcher Brad Lidge was a bit more firm, because he would have liked a player like Kershaw to achieve something so outstanding in his brilliant career.
“Don’t tell me that Spring Training was short, or that it’s the start of the season… ¿40 pitches in the seventh? If you’re going to get a perfect game, it’s today. We have Roberts making Roberts’ decisions, I mean, thinking about the future, which is fine, but you have to understand that we’re talking about Clayton Kershaw, who has achieved everything in his career, except this. It was the ideal occasion to have a perfect game”, he recounted.
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