LOS ANGELES ― While Sunday’s Freeway Series opener might have catalyzed the Angels’ decision about who will claim the final spot in their starting rotation, the Dodgers might have found something special themselves.
Clayton Kershaw turned back the clock in his final regular season tuneup, tossing six shutout innings in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium.
The left-hander threw 74 pitches while limiting the Angels to three hits and no walks. He struck out seven batters, including Mike Trout in all three of his plate appearances.
One week after celebrating his 35th birthday, Kershaw finished the exhibition season with seven runs allowed across four starts, good for a 3.44 earned-run average.
“Overall it was definitely better than it has been,” Kershaw said. “Slider was definitely better. I threw some bad ones too, but overall the consistency was better with it. Got some swings and misses finally with it. Fastball command was better. Overall definitely a good step forward for me.”
The only clock Kershaw didn’t turn back Sunday? The new pitch timers, which caused the left-hander to be charged with two automatic balls, and led to one lengthy discussion between Kershaw and home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez between innings.
Kershaw said one of the two violations was his fault for not delivering a pitch before the timer counted down. The other was based on a misunderstanding after the 15-second clock stopped counting down by mistake.
“I stepped off, looked up, and there was seven seconds (left on the clock) but the clock turned off,” Kershaw said. “The clock should’ve just kept going. And (Marquez) tried to make his best judgment, and thought I wasn’t going to make the pitch in time. … He said it was his judgment on that one.”
Back-to-back home runs by Max Muncy and Chris Taylor in the second inning provided Kershaw the only runs he needed. Those were the only runs allowed by Angels starter Tucker Davidson, who was making his final bid for a rotation spot.
Davidson allowed one hit besides the two home runs, a single by Miguel Vargas on his 75th and final pitch. The left-hander walked one batter and struck out one in 4 ⅓ innings.
“It was good to be back out there, kind of in the big league setting, away from Arizona and kind of get some adrenaline back into it so it was good,” Davidson said. “I threw the ball well. The slider was really good and then I thought I commanded the fastball well to righties, lefties. We’re gonna have to make some adjustments in the bullpen this week, but I think we’re on the right track.”
Davidson is out of minor league options. Of his six spring starts, only one went poorly. He allowed six runs in three innings against the San Francisco Giants on March 19, and four earned runs in 14 ⅓ innings in the other five games.
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“We kind of wanted to see him in this atmosphere, other than a spring game, and it was just as well as he’s pitched all spring,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “A lot of good sliders. A 3-0 fastball that Muncy hit and then a slider he just left on the plate, but we’ll take that.”
Right-hander Jaime Barría, who’s also battling for the sixth starter’s job, allowed one run in 2 ⅔ innings, striking out four. The one run came on an eighth-inning home run by Dodgers outfielder James Outman, who will make his first Opening Day roster on Thursday.
Outman and Muncy each have hit three home runs this spring.
Yency Almonte, Brusdar Graterol, Phil Bickford and Shelby Miller did not allow a run over the final three innings.
Doug Padilla contributed to this story.