Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw makes another bid at a perfect game, and this time there's no quick hook

Tom Gatto

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Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw makes another bid at a perfect game, and this time there's no quick hook image

Clayton Kershaw got close to perfection again in 2022. This time, he was given an opportunity to achieve it.

And while the Dodgers ace couldn't seal the deal, he did make a small bit of baseball history.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he became the first MLB pitcher in the expansion era (which started in 1961) to begin a game with at least seven perfect innings more than once in a season.

MORE: 2022 Cy Young odds update

He was six outs away from the 24th perfect game in MLB history Friday night when Angels infielder Luis Rengifo lined a clean double to left field to lead off the bottom of the eighth.

To that point, Kershaw looked like a near-lock to pull it off, especially after he struck out Shohei Ohtani with a wicked curveball in the seventh. He had to settle for retiring the first 21 Angels batters. 

He wasn't entirely unhittable, though. A pair of infield fielding gems kept Kershaw perfect: by Justin Turner in the fourth . . .

. . . And Trea Turner in the seventh.

"I think I probably should have given up, like, five hits by the end at that point," Kershaw told SportsNet LA. "The defense was unbelievable. I mean, JT (Justin Turner), Trea (Turner), they lined out a few times right at guys.

"Tonight was one of those nights where it kind of felt like it might happen just because we had such great defense and good luck with the line-drive outs."

The first game this year in which Kershaw went 21 up, 21 down produced a huge controversy. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him from that game against the Twins after seven innings and 80 pitches.

Kershaw was making his season debut on a cold day, he was coming off an arm injury and he had an abbreviated spring training due to the lockout.

The veteran publicly supported Roberts' decision and expressed hope that he'd get to run it back at some point.

"Sure, I would have loved to do it, but maybe we'll get another chance — who knows?" he told reporters.

Friday was that chance, and there was zero probability of Roberts taking him out while he was still perfect. Kershaw had thrown 71 pitches in those first seven frames.

Of course, after Rengifo's hit, Roberts was free to pull Kershaw without worry, especially with the Dodgers up big.

Kershaw retired the Angels in the eighth and then left the game to a standing ovation from the Dodgers fans in Anaheim.

Roberts handed the ball to Reyes Moronta, who got the final three outs in a 9-1 Dodgers win to open their weekend Freeway Series.

Now Kershaw will stroll into the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium with a 7-2 record and 2.13 ERA in 12 starts, plus the thrill of being close to perfect again.

"It was a good night and a good way to go into the break," he said. 

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.