Amid Clayton Kershaw’s perfect game attempt, mind-blowing Dave Roberts stat revealed

A couple of years ago people were wondering if Clayton Kershaw was done pitching as an ace, and was looking at the twilight of his career. Kershaw proved those people wrong last season, posting another stellar year. He backed that up again on Wednesday, throwing seven perfect innings, while striking out 13 batters. Yet, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts still opted to pull his starter, taking his chance at a perfect game away.

As it turns out, this is not the first time Roberts has done this. But he is the only guy to do it.

On Septbember 10, 2016, Dodgers starter Rich Hill also had seven perfect innings. Roberts pulled him from that game as well. The Dodgers skipper is apparently the only manager in baseball since 1901 to have pulled any pitcher while they had at least seven perfect innings under their belt.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw defended his manager, saying he thought it was the right decision. He would love to have stayed in the game, but understood the decision. After all, Kershaw’s resume is already Hall of Fame ready. He does have a no-hitter under his list of accomplishments back in 2014, but a perfect game is another thing entirely.

What was most shocking was that Kershaw had only thrown 80 pitches through the seven innings. There have only been 23 perfect games in the 140-year history of baseball.

Kershaw is 34-years old and did deal with elbow and arm issues last season. The Dodgers manager clearly had that in mind when he made the decision to pull Kershaw from the game. Dodgers fans will always wonder what if.