Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw blasted Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell for intentionally walking James Outman with the Dodgers leading 6-0 with two outs in the top of the 9th inning Thursday just before catcher Austin Barnes was hit in the right hand by an Ian Gibaut pitch, and Kershaw added that he didn’t agree with a lot of what Bell did during the three-game series won by the Reds.
Barnes left the game after the HBP, but later said an X-ray on his hand came back negative.
“Pretty ridiculous that they walked the guy in front of (Barnes) in that situation,” Kershaw said after the game, per the Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris. “I don’t agree with that, or a lot of their managers did this series.”
Harris tweeted that Barnes, who has served as Kershaw’s personal catcher, said he wasn’t bothered by the intentional walk.
The Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer wrote that Kershaw demonstrated Thursday “why he has spent much of his career being called the greatest pitcher on the planet.”
The Reds and Dodgers meet again in Los Angeles for three games July 28-30.
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Clayton Kershaw criticizes Cincinnati manager David Bell