Clayton Kershaw was perfect in seven innings and imperfect with his timing.
The Los Angeles Dodgers pulled their longtime ace on Wednesday despite being two innings short of MLB's first perfect game since 2012 and the second in team history, after Sandy Koufax in 1965. The perfect game bid was lost two batters later.
Throughout the start, Kershaw had been mowing down the Minnesota Twins to a comical degree. He struck out 13 in seven innings, with little hard contact to be seen. The Twins saw his best pitch, his slider, 41 times and whiffed 17 times while putting only five in play.