ANAHEIM, Calif. – In his 15 well-decorated years in the significant leagues, there haveactually been nights Clayton Kershaw hasactually been more dominant.
There haveactually been nights he was all the Los Angeles Dodgers had, and he figuratively took them upon his back and willed them to triumph.
Yet not upuntil Friday night at Angel Stadium, with a thunderous crowd prompting him on, had Kershaw come so close to excellence.
At 34, with his fastball topping out at a mortal 92 milesperhour however his command impressive, Kershaw took a ideal videogame into the 8th inning, simply 6 outs away from the veryfirst perfecto of his profession and simply the 24th in significant league history. The record books would not be interrupted on this night: Luis Rengifo led off the 8th inning by clubbing a slider into left field for the only acne on Kershaw’s night.
Yet in shutting down the flailing Los Angeles Angels in a 9-1 triumph priorto 44,648 fans that roared a bit louder with every tidy inning and turned a roadway ballpark into Chavez Ravine South, Kershaw, through his deeds, all however required the ball to start Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.
His words were less strident: Kershaw stated there were pitchers with muchbetter resumes who are “more deserving than me,” and that he’s simply pleased to takepart in his house ballpark.
Yet Friday was more evidence that while Miami’s Sandy Alcantara (12 strikeouts in 8 innings Friday) or Atlanta’s Max Fried (a 2.56 ERA in 40⅔ more innings pitched than Kershaw) may have a more engaging case, Kershaw provides a case that emerges from the record books.
“It’s a special resume,” states Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts. “It’s the pitcher of a generation.”
In flirting with the 2nd best videogame in Dodgers history and the veryfirst because 1965, when his fellow famous lefty and coach Sandy Koufax pulled it off, Kershaw showcased the smarts and command that made him a three-time Cy Young Award winner and still a dominant force, even as the crackle vanished from a fastball that more frequently touched the mid-90s.
He struck out simply 6 batters however strolled noone priorto leaving after retiring the side in the 8th. He endedupbeing the veryfirst pitcher to take a ideal videogame through 7 innings twotimes in the exactsame season because 1961; he set 21 Minnesota Twins down in order in his veryfirst start of the season in April, however Roberts, with the significant leagues fresh off a 99-day lockout and Kershaw structure back from an elbow injury that kept him from the 2021 postseason, lifted him priorto the 8th.
There were no such issues Friday.
With one Angels legend, Shohei Ohtani, in the lineup and another, Mike Trout, sidelined with back convulsions, an Angels lineup including 4 players batting .239 or less was no match for Kershaw. He required simply 59 pitches to browse 6 innings, dotting the corners with his fastball, generating 6 swings and missesouton from his slider through 5 innings and sometimes making the Angels appearance silly.
Kershaw was bidding for Major League Baseball’s initially best videogame giventhat Aug. 15, 2012, when Seattle’s Felix Hernandez set the Tampa Bay Rays down in order, the 3rd perfecto that season.
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