It was the burning question on the mind of every Dodgers – and baseball – fan on the planet:

“Why would Dodgers manager Dave Roberts even consider removing Clayton Kershaw from a two-hit / 1-0 shutout after seven innings when the future Hall of Fame left-hander had made only 88 pitches to that point?”

It was also the burning question that Roberts clearly was expecting and clearly had a prepared answer for, and was visibly annoyed when it inevitably came following the Dodgers 1-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on Saturday evening:

“First off, Clayton’s always gonna say ‘Hey, I’m all right,’ so I think that we can put this to bed about every fifth day when I decide to take Clayton Kershaw out of a game. The stuff started to tick down a little bit, the last few starts we’ve ridden him, there’s a long way to go, and regardless of the outcome, it was the right decision, so I’m watching the game.”

•  Fact: There have been seven complete games pitched in Major League Baseball thus far this season – none by a Dodgers pitcher.
• Fact: There were 36 complete games pitched in 2022.
• Fact: The Dodgers had one complete game pitched in 2022 – right-hander Walker Buehler on April 25, 2022, against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
• Fact: The Dodgers had one complete game pitched in 2021 – right-hander Trevor Bauer on April 29, 2021, against the Milwaukee Brewers.
• Fact: Clayton Kershaw has pitched 25 complete games in his thus far 16-year MLB career.
• Fact: Kershaw’s last complete game was on July 2, 2017, against the Kansas City Royals. His last before that was on May 23, 2016, against the Cincinnati Reds.

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Fire Away.

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Play Ball!

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