Clayton Kershaw extends scoreless streak to 37 innings in 3-1 win

Worried about Clayton Kershaw? Concerned that soreness in his hip region might return your favorite National League MVP to common-man status?

Fear not. The Dodgers’ ace left-hander looked absolutely normal, which is to say dominant, Saturday afternoon when he returned to the mound after not pitching for eight days to let his soreness dissipate.

Kershaw extended his current scoreless-innings streak to 37 in leading the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Angels on a muggy afternoon at Dodger Stadium. Kenley Jansen gave up a run in the ninth but picked up his 19th save.

The Dodgers believe Kershaw is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to put together two scoreless streaks of 37 or more innings. He had a 41-inning streak last season.

[Update 4:55 p.m.: The Dodgers said after the game that according to Elias Sports Bureau, Kershaw is the first pitcher with two streaks of 37-plus inning streaks since Luis Tiant, who threw 40 scoreless for the Red Sox in 1972 and 41 for the Indians in 1968.]

Kershaw (9-6) shut out the Angels for eight innings, giving up only two hits, walking his first batter in four starts and striking out seven. Kershaw, who had a 4.32 ERA on May 25, now has an ERA of 2.37.

Supported by some excellent defense, Kershaw never allowed a runner to advance to second base.

Dodger-for-a-heartbeat Andrew Heaney matched Kershaw for five innings, before the Dodgers scored all their runs in the sixth.

Howie Kendrick – the player the Dodgers flipped Heaney for in the off-season – singled to lead off the sixth and advanced to third on an Adrian Gonzalez single. Scott Van Slyke’s fly to the left field wall brought in Kendrick for the first run.

With Heaney at 97 pitches, substitute manager Dino Ebel – Mike Scioscia was ejected in the second inning for arguing balls and strikes – called on reliever Fernando Salas.

That looked good when Yasiel Puig fouled out on the first pitch, but not so good when Yasmani Grandal drilled a two-run homer to almost dead center. It was Grandal’s 15th home run of the season, matching his career high set last season for the Padres.

Jansen, who said after Friday’s appearance he had been battling flu-like symptoms for a few days, made things interesting in the ninth.

Jansen gave up a home run to Mike Trout on Friday, and began his appearance Saturday by giving up a single to pinch-hitter David Murphy and walking pinch-hitter Kole Calhoun.

Jansen struck out Johnny Giavotella, to bring up Trout and Albert Pujols. Jansen struck out Trout but gave up an RBI single to Pujols on a flare to left field, before getting Erick Aybar to pop out to end the game.

Kershaw and Trout provided the first meeting between reigning MVPs in baseball history. Kershaw becomes the first pitcher with four straight starts of at least eight scoreless innings since Orel Hershiser in 1988.

It was the Dodgers’ fifth consecutive victory over the Angels, a team record.