It was, as many like to say, a “Meaningless Spring Training game.”

But try convincing Angels center fielder and future Hall of Famer Mike Trout or Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw of that – or the 37,195 on hand at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night for the first of three preseason Freeway Series games between the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

All Kershaw did was strike Trout out three times … all swinging.

“He’s in a great spot. The last, call it three or four days, he hasn’t felt great, under the weather,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “But he’s Clayton, he’s posted, and today was a really good one, very efficient, we got the pitch count, we got the ups, and going into the season, we feel really good where he’s at.”

Coming off shoulder and arm issues and a recent bout with (presumably) the flu, Kershaw finished his Spring with a 1-1 record and 3.11 ERA in his three starts and combined 12.1 innings pitched, during which he allowed seven runs on 14 hits, including four home runs. That said, he allowed no runs and only three hits in his 6.0 innings pitched on Sunday evening, while striking out seven and walking none.

“Overall, it was definitely better than it has been,” Kershaw told reporters postgame. “The slider was definitely better. I threw some bad ones too, but overall, the consistency was better with it, got some swings and misses finally on it. The fastball command was better too, so overall, definitely a good step forward for me, and yeah, it’s time to go now.”

In addition to striking out Trout three times, Kershaw also struck out Angels superstar designated hitter/pitcher Shohei Ohtani once, also swinging.

Although Kershaw’s three K’s of Trout won’t appear on the career stats of either future Hall of Famer, you can bet that they will remain in the memory banks of both superstars … forever.

Play Ball!

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