Wednesday’s Rockies-Dodgers game was supposed to start at 7:10 p.m., but it ended up starting a few minutes late because Colorado pitcher Tyler Anderson was finishing his warmup in the bullpen and the umpire didn’t let the game start.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was not happy about that. From ESPN:
“That was … I mean, that was one of the more disrespectful things I have been a part of in a game,” Kershaw said after he rebounded from his slow start to strike out 10 Rockies and lead the Dodgers to a 4-2 victory.
“I really didn’t appreciate that,” Kershaw added. “The game starts at 7:10 and has started at 7:10 here for a long time. Just go around, or finish earlier. But yeah, that wasn’t appreciated, for sure.”
Kershaw let the first three Rockies batters on base that inning before coming back to win, 4-2. Then Kershaw said the delay didn’t affect him.
Kershaw downplayed the effect the pregame incident had on his performance.
“I had Blackmon down 0-2 right away. I just couldn’t finish him off,” Kershaw said about the first Rockies batter of the game. “No, that wasn’t a factor.”
So… he’s mad for no reason? Was this one of baseball’s unwritten rules that the Rockies’ second-year pitcher violated?
For his part, Anderson said he wasn’t trying to get in Kershaw’s head and didn’t understand why the game started late.
“I threw a few extra pitches in the bullpen before the game,” Anderson said. “I didn’t mean any disrespect by it. I was surprised the umpire didn’t let him pitch.”
The Dodgers won, 4-2, Kershaw did fine and even said it didn’t affect his performance, though he was obviously irritated enough to bring it up after the ballgame.. The left-hander struck out 10 batters over seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits. So no harm, no foul. Maybe chill out a bit, Clayton.
