The right-hander, who is likely to be the Angels' Opening Day starter, made his second outing of the spring a much better performance than his first. He went 2 1/3 scoreless innings against the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch-Glendale, striking out four batters and giving up a hit.
Richards walked two hitters to begin the third inning, but got rescued from damage when reliever Eduardo Paredes got a double-play ball off the bat of Joc Pederson to end the frame.
Richards suffered a partially torn right ulnar collateral ligament last May, but opted for a stem-cell injection rather than Tommy John surgery.