After finishing the homestand with a 4-2 record despite dropping two out of three to the Colorado Rockies, the Los Angeles Dodgers head north to face the first-place San Francisco Giants this weekend.
Their loss Wednesday night dropped the Dodgers to four games back of the Giants in the National League West standings. However, the bigger news came with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announcing a slight change in the starting rotation.
Rather than take the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night, Julio Urias is instead slated to start the three-game series finale at AT&T Park. The game will be nationally televised by ESPN Sunday Night Baseball at 5:35 p.m. PT. game
Urias takes the place of Mike Bolsinger, who now draws the Diamondbacks. Roberts explained the decision was tied to Urias’ being a better matchup for the Giants’ heavy left-handed hitting lineup.
The 19-year-old southpaw is coming off his Dodger Stadium debut, during which he threw four innings while allowing one run, with seven strikeouts and one walk. Urias threw a season-high 86 pitches and Roberts said a pitch count will remain in place, according to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:
#Dodgers mgr Dave Roberts said Julio Urias will remain on a 80-90 pitch count limit.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 8, 2016
Urias’ career high in the Minors is 89 pitches — set last season with Double-A Tulsa. He did not throw more than 82 pitches in an outing with Triple-A Oklahoma City this season. Urias’ start on Sunday will be his second against a first-place team after he faced the Chicago Cubs on June 2 in a game in which he gave up five runs on eight hits in five innings of work.
In his Major League debut on May 27, Urias faced the second-place New York Mets and gave up three runs in 2.2 innings. Roberts believes that Urias’ experiences pitching in Citi Field and Wrigley Field will help prepare the young lefty for the expected raucous environment at AT&T Park on Sunday.
