Clayton Kershaw gave a wide-eyed smile to Gavin Lux as he walked off the sector.
He laughed whereas fist-bumping teammates within the dugout as he descended the steps.
Then he discovered catcher Austin Barnes and wrapped him in a fast hug, the one time a dejected look ever crossed his face.
“Sorry,” Kershaw instructed his catcher, as an ideal day got here to an imperfect finish.
Barnes appeared again on the future Corridor of Famer, tapped his facet and flashed a smile.
There was nothing for the left-handed legend to be sorry about, not after starting his 14th Dodgers season Wednesday with a surprising — and virtually historic — bang.
Within the Dodgers’ 7-0 win over the Minnesota Twins, Kershaw pitched seven good innings earlier than being eliminated by supervisor Dave Roberts with the pitch depend at 80 in his first outing after a lockout-shortened spring coaching.
The Dodgers’ mixed good recreation bid was damaged up an inning later, when Gary Sánchez singled towards reliever Alex Vesia to document the Twins’ solely hit of the sport.
Within the aftermath, the remainder of the baseball world was ablaze second-guessing the choice. Followers, pundits and even present and former gamers debated on-line whether or not Kershaw ought to have been allowed to remain in and go for what would have been Main League Baseball’s twenty third good recreation.
Kershaw’s response was conversely tame. He confirmed no indicators of outward frustration, no indications of anger or discontent.
He mentioned he would have beloved to stay within the recreation and go for historical past, but additionally understood the realities of the predicament — realizing he was coming off an elbow damage from final season, and that he hadn’t thrown greater than 5 innings or 75 pitches in an outing all spring.
“I knew getting in that my pitch depend wasn’t going to be 100, not to mention 90 or no matter,” Kershaw mentioned. “So I don’t know. It’s a tough factor to do to have to come back out of the sport if you’re doing that. However we’re right here to win and this was the suitable alternative.”
Roberts supplied an analogous clarification.
“There’s lots of people which are cheering for the Dodgers, not solely only for at the moment and Clayton to throw a no-hitter, however for the Dodgers to win the World Sequence,” mentioned the seventh-year supervisor, who has twice beforehand eliminated pitchers within the midst of a no-hitter. “For us to try this, we want him wholesome.”
Kershaw, 34, wasn’t wholesome the final time he had pitched a regular-season recreation. In his ultimate outing of the 2021 marketing campaign, he re-aggravated a critical flexor tendon damage in his left elbow, forcing him to overlook the playoffs and almost require Tommy John surgical procedure.
That day, he walked off the mound with the ball tightly in his grasp. When he disappeared into the dugout, he was a pending free agent unsure if he would pitch for the Dodgers once more.
However Kershaw not solely returned this season — signing a one-year cope with the staff following the lockout — but additionally throughout camp pitched “pretty much as good as I’ve seen him from day one in spring coaching in all my six years with him,” Roberts mentioned.
And when the long run Corridor of Famer stepped atop the Goal Discipline mound for the 12:10 p.m. native begin Wednesday, a frigid 38-degree day with overcast skies as grey as his street uniform, he instantly started authoring the newest spotlight of a storybook profession.
He acquired forward of hitters by pounding fastballs to all elements of the zone, low-90s mph four-seamers that had been slower than when he was in prime however nonetheless successfully situated on both facet of the plate.
“It had some enamel on it,” Barnes mentioned. “Acquired them on their heels a little bit bit.”
Kershaw then put Twins hitters away with classic biting sliders, inducing helpless, confused swings to rack 11 of his 13 strikeouts.
“I don’t know what his whiff price on that [slider] was, however it needed to be silly,” mentioned second baseman Gavin Lux (Kershaw’s slider induced whiffs on 17 of 27 swings). “Nobody hit his slider in any respect.”
Kershaw additionally combined in a number of curveballs and changeups, protecting the Twins lineup off stability and giving his protection little to do till his final batter of the day.
With two outs within the seventh, Gio Urshela scorched a floor ball up the center that by some means break up Kershaw’s legs, bounced off the incline of the mound, and was fielded by Lux to protect the proper recreation.
“Luxy made an awesome play,” Kershaw mentioned.
By that time, although, the choice to take away Kershaw was already properly underway. An inning earlier, along with his pitch depend at 69, Roberts approached Kershaw on the bench to ask how he was feeling. In response to Roberts, Kershaw mentioned he may go at the very least one other inning, feeling snug to throw 80-85.
“A man like Clayton,” Roberts mentioned, “[he] earns the suitable to have a dialog.”
However each Roberts and Kershaw may inform the pitcher’s stuff was slipping — “my slider was horrible the final two innings,” Kershaw mentioned — and as soon as his pitch depend reached 80 on the finish of the seventh, Roberts had made up his thoughts.
After warming up Blake Treinen in the course of the earlier inning, the supervisor known as Vesia into the sport within the eighth. Sánchez lined a single to proper two batters later.
“There’s a degree the place you simply acquired to resolve — I acquired to resolve — to what finish?” Robert mentioned. “I’m as an enormous fan as anybody of Clayton. And to see a battery of him and Austin throw an ideal recreation or a no-hitter, I’m all in. However once more, to what finish or to what value? … Yeah, I've to make a troublesome choice. However finally, it wasn’t as robust as perceived.”
Kershaw didn’t seem to protest, nor did anybody else on the Dodgers bench.
“I really feel prefer it was disappointing, in all probability, for everybody, however understood,” mentioned third baseman Justin Turner.
Echoed Barnes: “Ensuring he’s wholesome is crucial factor. He was making some good pitches nonetheless, however I believe he was getting drained. I don’t know — he won't have been. However general, within the grand scheme of it, I believe it was the suitable name, for positive.”
Peppered in regards to the challenge throughout a postgame scrum, Kershaw confirmed that his stance by no means wavered, both.
“Blame it on the lockout, blame it on me not selecting up a baseball until January,” whereas he let his elbow heal this offseason, he mentioned. “It was time.”
Kershaw’s one remorse was not giving Barnes, his longtime pal and battery mate, the prospect to catch a good recreation.
The catcher, nevertheless, brushed it apart.
“You get these alternatives each on occasion,” Barnes acknowledged. However after watching Kershaw’s dominant, electrical, nearly-perfect return to the mound, he was already trying forward.
“I’m positive it’ll come round once more.”
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