The Los Angeles Dodgers swung the bat well and opened the unofficial second half of the season with a 10-4 win over the Colorado Rockies to keep pace with the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants.
Julio Urias allowed four runs — all of them coming on C.J. Cron’s grand slam — and pitched into the sixth inning before being removed. Urias exited with the Dodgers ahead and thus earned his 12th win, becoming the first pitcher in baseball to that total this season.
“Obviously it’s a very nice accomplishment,” Urias said through a translator. “It’s always nice to get some of those goals, go out there and compete, and put your best effort in an outing like that to give your team a chance to win, which is the ultimate goal.”
Urias holding the Rockies to four runs on one swing of the was a bit of good fortune and timely pitching as he gave up seven total hits. “I felt like I was fighting it all night,” he said.
“The funny thing about baseball, especially a night like tonight, all the balls that were hit hard were at people. And all the balls that were hit very soft were hits. Obviously the home run wasn’t a soft hit, but everything else kind of worked in the opposite for me.”
Urias’ self assessment was echoed by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Will Smith. “I thought he really competed,” Smith said.
“Command wasn’t great like it usually is, but he got out of some big jams, limited to that grand slam. There were definitely a couple more innings that could’ve gone south that he was able to get out of. I thought he did a really good job.”
Roberts added: “Made a mistake to Cron, but in that inning there was a seeing-eye grounder, infield hit, soft serve to right. I think what got him was the hit batsman to Blackmon. But overall, really good outing from Julio.”
Pujols rises on MLB hits list
Albert Pujols pinch-hit for Jake Reed in the ninth inning and reached on an infield single that went off Rockies relief pitcher Lucas Gilbreath and towards Trevor Story, who was unable to get a grip on the ball.
That gave Pujols 3,284 career hits to break a tie with Willie Mays and move into sole possession of 11th place on the all-time MLB hits list. It was the latest milestone for the future Hall of Famer who recently became just the fourth player in MLB history with at least 6,000 total bases.
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