Led by a phenomenal start from Julio Urias, the Los Angeles Dodgers avoided the sweep against the Miami Marlins on Thursday with a 6-1 victory to close out their road trip.
With a short bullpen and only three active starting pitchers on the roster, the Dodgers needed a strong outing from Urias, who had the pressure of knowing he needed to pitch deep into the game.
He delivered.
“The focus is the same going into the start, everything is the same,” Urias said.
“But when that pitch count comes up and you’re starting to make pitches and give up hits, you start getting it in the back of your mind that you have to tighten up a little bit because you want to get to the deeper part of the game.
“So once that switch, or turning on that switch, is kind of the focus in between the game and that’s something that I was very happy to accomplish today.”
Urias pitched seven innings and struck out nine while only allowing one run on five hits and two walks.
“I thought today first and foremost, it was about Julio,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He understood the situation we were in as far as needing to win a ballgame, where the pitching was at. And giving up the leadoff homer, early on didn’t have command of his secondary stuff but found a way to get through seven innings and pitched really well. That was huge.”
With the win, Urias picked up his MLB-leading 11th win of the season.
“It’s truly a blessing,” Urias said about being the first pitcher to reach the 11-win mark. “To pitch in a season as a full-time starter for 162 and be able to accomplish that feat is something that I take a lot of pride in and am very happy about. Obviously, I’m more happy about my health and everything that’s going on there.”
While the win stat has been undervalued in modern baseball analysis, Roberts said it is still important.
“The name of the game is still to win baseball games and when he takes the mound, the win/loss shows that when he takes the mound, we’ve won a large majority of his games so he should be proud of that,” Roberts said.
In 17 starts this season, Urias has earned 1.9 WAR and pitched to a 3.81 ERA and 3.52 FIP while striking out nearly 10 hitters per nine innings and walking just less than two batters per nine.
Workload concerns
At nearly the halfway point of the season, the 24-year-old Urias has already thrown 99.1 innings, which is around 20 more than he has in any previous season. Despite that, Urias says he is ready to go for the next half of the season.
“I feel good,” Urias said. “I feel strong, I feel healthy, just getting ready for that second half and try to do as best as I can.”
The Dodgers will need Urias to stay healthy and effective with Clayton Kershaw on the 10-day injured list with forearm inflammation and Trevor Bauer under investigation for sexual assault.
“Obviously I think a lot of Julio. He continues to get better, he gets frustrated because he’s very competitive,” Roberts said.
“But yeah, the last couple turns have been really good and I think he’s been really good all year. There’s a couple big innings that he’s been victim to but he’s been fantastic and we’re gonna need him a lot more this year.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events and more!
