“Those are selfish goals” – Clayton Kershaw believes Dodgers made ‘right choice’ in pulling him from perfect game
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Clayton Kershaw
Pitcher Clayton Kershaw was perfect through seven innings on Wednesday afternoon, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and manager ultimately decided to pull him from the game due to pitch count. In his first start of the season, the Texas native Kershaw only threw 80 pitches.
Clayton’s pull was taken as controversial by fans, as they were hoping to see just the 24th perfect Major League Baseball (MLB) game in history. This took place during the game against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.
Reacting to this surprise call made by the Dodgers, Kershaw, however, thinks Roberts made “the right decision” when choosing to take him from the game.
“Blame it on the lockout,” Kershaw said, as quoted by Sports Illustrated. “Blame it on my not picking up a ball for three months (during the offseason).
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“I knew going in that my pitch count wasn’t going to be 100. It’s a hard thing to do, to come out of a game when you’re doing that. We’re here to win. This was the right choice.”
“We’re trying to win, that’s really all we’re here for”
For those who don’t know, no pitcher has thrown more than 96 pitches this year so far because of the late start to the season. Roberts, along with other League managers, are being careful about keeping their pitchers in too long this early in the season.
“At the end of the day, those are individual things,” Kershaw said. “Those are selfish goals. 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’ve loved to do it, but maybe we get another chance, who knows.”
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Sachin Arora
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