ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels and Dodgers renewed their Southern California rivalry in the opener of a two-game Freeway Series in Anaheim on Friday night.
Two ships passing in the night, they were not.
The Dodgers are a frigate steaming toward their ninth National League West title in 10 years, with an arsenal of bats and arms that appears deep and powerful enough to make another World Series run.
The Angels are a leaky life raft that has been adrift for weeks, their playoff hopes torpedoed mostly by a group of hitters who lead the major leagues in strikeouts — by a lot — and too often look, as Tommy Lasorda once said of Kurt Bevacqua with an added expletive, like they couldn’t hit water if they “fell out of a boat.”
Their lineup further weakened by the loss of injured center fielder Mike Trout to upper-back spams, all the Angels had to contend with Friday night was Clayton Kershaw, a three-time National League Cy Young winner who is arguably the best pitcher in Dodgers history.
They didn’t have a chance. Kershaw not only dominated the anemic Angels, he came within six outs of a perfect game, settling for eight shutout innings in which he gave up one hit and struck out six in a 9-1 victory before a sold-out crowd of 44,648 in Angel Stadium.
Kershaw retired the first 18 batters and needed only 71 pitches — 54 of them strikes — to complete seven innings, his efficiency eliminating any chance of manager Dave Roberts pulling the veteran left-hander like he did after Kershaw threw seven perfect innings with 13 strikeouts in his season debut at Minnesota on April 13.
But Angels shortstop Luis Rengifo smacked a 2-and-1 slider into the left-field corner for a leadoff double in the eighth, ending Kershaw’s bid for baseball’s 24th perfect game.
Kershaw, who missed a month of the season because of a lower-back injury, improved to 7-2 with a 2.13 ERA in 12 starts and boosted his chances of starting Tuesday night’s All-Star Game in Dodger Stadium.
“I haven’t heard yet,” Roberts said before the game. “Hopefully we’re gonna know soon. Hopefully my phone or Clayton’s phone will ring, and (NL manager) Brian Snitker will say he’s the starter.”
Kershaw who entered the game with an 8-2 record and 2.31 ERA in 15 career starts against the Angels, got three superb defensive plays to keep his pursuit of history intact.
Angels leadoff man Michael Stefanic opened the bottom of the fourth with a chopper down the third-base line that appeared ticketed for left field before Justin Turner intervened.
The Dodgers third baseman made a lunging, back-hand grab of the ball and, from one knee, threw a one-hopper to first, that Freddie Freeman scooped for the first out of the inning.
With two outs in fifth, Angels first baseman Jared Walsh rifled a 103.2-mph line drive into shallow right field, where a perfectly stationed Dodgers second baseman Hanser Alberto made a lunging, back-hand grab to keep the perfect game intact.
Stefanic led off the seventh with a hard one-hopper up the middle that Trea Turner made a sliding catch of.
The Dodgers shortstop got up and fired accurately to first for the out.
The Dodgers scored twice in the first after Mookie Betts opened with a walk and Trea Turner, Freeman and Will Smith followed with singles against Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval.
Freeman’s rocket to right-center scored Betts for a 1-0 lead and was the first baseman’s 14th hit in 17 at-bats dating to last Sunday, a torrid stretch in which he had two homers, four doubles, five RBIs and reached base in 18 of 21 plate appearances.
Smith’s single to center loaded the bases with no outs for Justin Turner, whose ground-ball out to the second-base hole scored Trea Turner for a 2-0 lead.
Alberto followed with a hard grounder to Angels third baseman Jonathan Villar, who tagged Freeman as the runner dived back to the bag before firing to first for an inning-ending double play.
Sandoval escaped a two-on, no-outs jam in the second and a two-on, one-out jam in the third and retired the side in order in the fourth, but his defense let him down in a two-run fifth.
Sandoval got two quick outs before Smith reached on an infield single. Justin Turner’s hard grounder to third went under Villar’s glove for an error.
Alberto followed with a drive to deep right field, a tough-but-catchable ball that Jo Adell got turned around on before making attempting a leaping, backhand catch. The ball nicked off his glove and the wall for a two-run triple and a 4-0 Dodgers lead.
The Dodgers blew the game open with a four-run sixth, a rally that Angels reliever Jose Marte aided by walking the bases loaded with one out.
Freeman smacked a sacrifice fly to center, Smith roped an RBI double to left, and Justin Turner hit a two-run single to center to make it 8-0.
