Angels slowed down by ‘buzzsaw’ Kershaw

LOS ANGELES — The Angels were starting to feel pretty good about themselves when they arrived at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. They had won four in a row, sweeping the first-place Mariners and taking the first of a four-game Freeway Series against their crosstown rivals. And their offense had seemingly turned a corner, scoring 36 runs over a five-game stretch that made them believe they might just be able to overcome the litany of injuries that had plagued them.

Then they ran into Clayton Kershaw.

Or, as Kole Calhoun called him: “Buzzsaw.”

The Angels became the latest team to fall victim to Kershaw’s dominant, historic run, scoring just once over the course of eight innings in an eventual 5-1 loss. A team that puts the ball in play more frequently than any other struck out 11 times and never so much as drew a walk against the Dodgers’ ace, who improved to 6-1 with a 1.67 ERA.

Kershaw scattered four hits and retired his last 13 hitters in order. He struck out 10-plus hitters while issuing no more than one walk for the sixth consecutive time, a modern-day record. And he ran his May ERA to 0.82.

Afterward, Kershaw summed his outing up as “pretty average.”

When asked what …

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