Justin Turner and Max Muncy delivered for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a sixth-inning rally, and Julio Urias was dominant in a 3-1 win over the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields.
After Chad Bettis struck out five and allowed one hit over four shutout innings, the Dodgers broke through with two outs in the sixth. Seung-hwan Oh struck out a pair after allowing consecutive singles to open the inning.
Turner’s fourth double of the spring gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, and Muncy added to it by driving a two-run double high off the wall in center field.
Though there wasn’t much offense to speak of for most of the game, Urias turned in yet another outstanding start. He allowed just one baserunner — on a Nolan Arenado walk in the first inning — but still faced the minimum through three shutout innings.
Urias benefitted from Kiké Hernandez flashing a little leather at second base by making a a sliding stop to his left, then spinning to throw to second base for the start of a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.
Urias ended a perfect second inning with back-to-back strikeouts, and made quick work of the Rockies in the third. His fastball velocity peaked at 97 mph, which came when Urias faced his final batter.
In three Cactus League starts this year, Urias has allowed just one hit — a solo home run — and collected six strikeouts over six innings.
Russell Martin returned from lower back soreness, caught five innings behind the plate and went 1-for-2 with a run scored in his first game since Feb. 26. Sunday was also notable for Joe Kelly, as he made his first appearance since experiencing back tightness after cooking crawfish for teammates. Kelly worked a clean sixth inning, needing just six pitches to retire the side in order.
The Rockies’ best look at breaking a scoreless tie came in the bottom of the fifth when Muncy failed to dig out a short hop at first base and Chris Taylor’s throw to second pulled Hernandez off the bag.
J.T. Chargois escaped the jam by inducing a third groundball, this time with his defense backing him by turning a double play, and then a fourth to keep the Rockies off the board.
The Dodgers’ bid for a shutout ended when Yordy Cabrera surrendered a leadoff home run to Mark Reynolds in the eighth inning.
