Joey Gallo homers off Clayton Kershaw, Clayton Kershaw gets very angry
In an epic battle of baseball’s present against baseball’s future, Texas Rangers rookie Joey Gallo did something only four left-handed batters have done against Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw over the past three seasons.
Joey Gallo hit a home run.
But this wasn’t just any home run, it was an absolutely monstrous home run that stunned the Los Angeles crowd, wowed outfielder Yasiel Puig and visibly angered the former three-time Cy Young Award winner.
It’s not often you see Kershaw that angry, because it’s not often an opposing hitter abuses one of his pitches in that manner.
Kershaw went with a 1-1 breaking ball against the 21-year-old rookie, but ended up catching too much of the plate. You could almost see Gallo’s eyes light up, and spilt seconds later you could definitely see Kershaw’s head go down. He didn’t make his pitch, and the rookie got him.
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If there’s any consolation for Kershaw, it’s that he was able to strike Gallo out in their other two matchups. Beyond that, he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last to fall victim to Gallo. Gallo has a chance to become one of baseball’s most prolific mistake-killers and home run hitters over the next two decades.
He has that much power, and now that we know he has this much presence already in the big leagues, the numbers could start rolling in quickly.
The home run was already Gallo’s fifth in 50 career at-bats. It also served as the difference in the Rangers 5-3 victory.
As a minor leaguer, Gallo hit an astounding 113 home runs in just 330 games.
He’s simply the real deal. It’s just a shame we won’t get to see Gallo vs. Kershaw too often over the years, because that’s a money matchup.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
