Kershaw, Santiago join All-Stars, replacing Scherzer, Gray

Kershaw, 27, has a pedestrian 6-6 record this season, but has a 2.85 ERA (129 ERA+) with a 1.02 WHIP in 123 innings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers ace lost the National League All-Star Final Vote, but is now bound for Cincinnati anyway.

Clayton Kershaw (l.) and Hector Santiago have been added to the All-Star Game rosters. “I have no pride in how I get there”, Kershaw said about an hour before Sunday’s game against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.

Kershaw will replace Scherzer, according to the Los Angeles Times, and will be on the All-Star roster for a fifth straight year. “No one will remember that you were the replacement”. “You start there, but you look at also who Clayton is and his success and the star factor”, said San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy, who will guide the NL team.

The Nationals announced on Saturday that Scherzer would be starting on Sunday, the last game before the All-Star break.

Scherzer and the Nationals find themselves in the midst of a heated battle atop the National League East and have called upon the ace to make his scheduled start Sunday. He hasn’t pitched since Wednesday when he threw eight shutout innings in a 5-0 win against the Philadelphia Phillies. And if Kershaw is considered the downgrade over Scherzer this season, it’s not the worst trade-off the NL team could get.

Kershaw has not been as impressive in the first half of 2015 as he was in 2014.

He is one of six Dodgers rookies to be selected to the game; their other two starters – Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 and Hideo Nomo in 1995 – were pitchers.

Santiago is 6-4 with a 2.33 ERA. He entered Sunday batting.