Clayton Kershaw’s primary goal on Wednesday wasn’t to play a perfect game, although he very well could have done it if Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hadn’t pulled him after the seventh inning of a 7-0 win over the Twins.
No, the left-hander’s pristine 13 strikeout stat line was just a by-product of trying to get his teammates back to their own beds as quickly as possible and the sunny California weather, as Tuesday’s game ended after midnight due to a rain delay.
“Just hurry up,” Kershaw said of his in-game ethos. “It was cold. I think after last night’s game, the time it was and the quick turn around, I knew everyone was dragging but me. I slept well so I was ready to go.”
Kershaw sent the Twins batters in one-two-three fashion until he hit 80 pitches on his season debut. With the lockout shortening spring camp, Kershaw was built up to only about 75 pitches and six innings. Roberts consulted him after the sixth, and Kershaw made the call that he wanted to pitch one more before quitting about 80-85 pitches.
The 34-year-old, whose 2021 season ended before the playoffs due to arm pain, said it was a tough decision, especially considering catcher Austin Barnes. Boos rained down from the announced 17,101 fans, many in Dodgers Blue, at Target Field as Alex Vesia checked in for the eighth inning.
It could have been the 24th perfect game in MLB history, the first for Seattle since Felix Hernandez on Aug. 15, 2012. Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, threw a no-hitter against Colorado in 2014.
Vesia allowed a single by Gary Sanchez in eighth place for the Twins’ only hit; There has never been a combined perfect game in the majors.
“There comes a point where I have to make a decision, ‘for what purpose,'” Roberts said. “I’m a huge fan like everyone else, and I’m a fan of Clayton, and when I see a battery from him and Austin throwing a perfect play or a no-hitter, I’m all in. But again, why and at what cost?
“…There’s a lot of people cheering for the Dodgers, not just [this game] and Clayton to throw a no-hitter but allow the Dodgers to win the World Series. In order for us to do that, we need him healthy.”
Roberts said the decision was actually pretty easy given the team’s and Kershaw’s long-term goals. The move didn’t seem to shock the twins, including manager Rocco Baldelli, either. Baldelli praised Kershaw’s slider, which did most of its damage since it didn’t hit much harder than about 90 mph.
“It’s not about speed. He’s got pretty good deception at what he’s doing. His delivery is one of a kind. Unless you’ve seen it a lot, I bet it’s hard to see the release point where it’s comes out,” Baldelli said. “…It seemed like this slider was just a playing field that, I don’t know if it was difficult to pick up and spin or whatever, but it seemed like the swings looked like they were attacking fastballs.” , and they weren’t fastballs. They were gliders.”
Imperfect as it was, LA still won the two-game sweep to put the Twins 2-4 in their season-opening home stand. And the Dodgers dominated offensively, hitting four homers from Twins relievers.
“There’s a lot of people cheering for the Dodgers, not only [this game] and Clayton to throw a no-hitter but allow the Dodgers to win the World Series. For that we need him healthy.”
Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager
Chris Paddack, who came off the Padres in a trade the day before the season opener, made his Twins debut and went four innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs while striking three.
Dereck Rodriguez, called up by the AAA St. Paul class before Wednesday’s game, pitched four innings and didn’t allow a hit until the eighth as he allowed back-to-back home runs from the back of the Dodgers lineup. Griffin Jax, another recently called up player, pitched for ninth place and hit a solo homer to Max Muncy.
Defensively, the Twins were also a bit sloppy, with errors in the first inning from third baseman Gio Urshela and Paddack as the Dodgers scored twice.
Luckily for the Twins, their performance isn’t what people will remember from this game.
“We have a couple of guys who scored really well,” Urshela said of Kershaw. “And they had no luck.”