Despite previously indicating that he would wait to see how Tuesday unfolded, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced Julio Urias will start Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
“I talked to Julio. Came in, played catch, worked out, had a great conversation with him and he feels great physically, mentally, all that stuff,” Roberts said hours before first pitch of Game 3.
Urias’ outing will come on only two days’ rest as he threw an inning of relief in Game 2 at Truist Park. The decision backfired as he gave up two runs on three hits, including a game-tying RBI double to Austin Riley.
Urias’ only other start this postseason came in Game 2 of the NL Division Series against the San Francisco Giants. He picked up a win after allowing one run on three hits in five innings of work.
Urias also served as the bulk pitcher in the deciding Game 5 against the Giants, when he yielded one run on three hits across four innings out of the bullpen.
With Urias starting in Game 4 of the NLCS, the Dodgers will likely opt for another bullpen in a potential fifth matchup. L.A. has utilized this strategy twice in the postseason, with the club going 1-1 in those contests.
Corey Knebel and Brusdar Graterol each tossed a scoreless inning in Game 5 against the Giants before Urias filled a bulk role, and Knebel opened again in Game 1 of the NLCS.
The right-hander didn’t fare as well against the Braves as he allowed one run in the first inning. Rather than go with a bulk pitcher in the middle innings, the Dodgers relied on seven other pitchers to log the final eight frames.
Dodgers’ Game 6 pitching plans
Should a Game 6 of the NLCS be necessary, Max Scherzer would get the start on an extra day of rest. The 37-year-old was tabbed with a no-decision in Game 2 after throwing just 79 pitches over 4.1 innings and later revealed he pitched through a dead arm.
“I would just say my arm was dead. I could tell when I was warming up that it was still tired,” Scherzer revealed after the Dodgers fell into an 2-0 series deficit.
“I’ve been in this situation before. Usually in those situations kind of once you get past pitch 45, sometimes it kind of loosens up and you’re able to get deeper into a game. But after that third inning it didn’t loosen up. It was still more tightening up. So I could tell that my pitch count was going to be limited.
“I wasn’t going to be able to get truly deep into a game and I wasn’t going to be able to get to that 95-, 100-pitch count. I knew it was going to be sooner than that.
“After the fourth inning I was like, ‘Hey, if this is a long inning, you’re going to have to pull me, but if it’s a quick inning I can go back out there.’ And that’s when we looked at the lineup and said, all right, I got Swanson, the pinch-hitter, and then at that point I knew I wasn’t going to be better than Vesia.
“Vesia was going to be better against the lefties than I was going to be. So for me I have to know the bullpen, who those guys are, who is coming in, because then I can honestly answer the question if I’m good or not. In that situation I knew Vesia was going to be better than me.”
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