Other mistake: Batman's lungs have plot armor; he has all the time to put his mask on even after exposure to the gas, and he reacts to it coughing at first. Nobody else in the episode reacts with a cough. (00:07:55)
Other mistake: At the beginning of the episode, the truck of the "Gotham Globe" delivers to the newsstand a nice bunch of copies of the newspaper, which naturally bears the name..."Gotham News" (00:01:20)





Answer: Because he stole a chemical from his lab.
But Batman knew that with it, Clayface could permanently retain his shape and Clayface desperately wanted to be Matt Hagen again. In a sense, Batman stopped Clayface from becoming human.