Baseball-Kershaw extends scoreless inning streak

Aug 1 (The Sports Xchange) - Left-hander Clayton Kershaw extended his streak of consecutive scoreless innings to 37 while leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday in front of 52,979 at Dodger Stadium. Kershaw (9-6) retired the final 14 batters he faced, permitted only two hits and a walk and finished with seven strikeouts in eight innings. The left-hander took the mound in the top of the ninth inning to an ovation, but was replaced by right-handed closer Kenley Jansen when C.J. Cron was announced as a pinch hitter. David Murphy then replaced Cron and lined a single to right field off Jansen before pinch-hitter Kole Calhoun followed with a walk. Jansen struck out second baseman Johnny Giavotella and center fielder Mike Trout before first baseman Albert Pujols dumped a broken-bat single down the left-field line to bring Murphy home and send Calhoun to third base. Jansen, however, induced shortstop Erick Aybar to pop out to register his 19th save. Catcher Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run home run and finished 3-for-4. The Angels lost their fifth consecutive game to match their longest losing streak this year. The Dodgers took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Second baseman Howie Kendrick began the inning with a single, took third base on first baseman Adrian Gonzalez's single and scored on left fielder Scott Van Slyke's sacrifice fly to the warning track in left field. After right-hander Fernando Salas replaced left-handed Angels starter Andrew Heaney, Grandal propelled Salas' 83 mph slider over the center-field fence for his 15th home run of the season. Angels manager Mike Scioscia was ejected in the second inning by plate umpire Chris Segal for arguing balls and strikes. (Editing by Greg Stutchbury)