A full-time member of the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation over the course of a normal season for the first time in his career, Julio Urias far and away set new highs in starts and innings pitched, among other statistics.
With the Dodgers still fighting to remain alive in the National League Westrace , Urias reached a personal milestone of 20 wins. He’s the franchise’s first pitcher to accomplish the feat since Clayton Kershaw had 21 victories during an MVP campaign in 2014.
“It’s incredible and a dream season,” Urias said. “Very blessed and very thankful for this season. … I was very blessed all year to stay healthy. Obviously I went into the offseason with the attitude that I was going to be a starter, try to maintain that health and build myself up to prepare for a season like this.
“Honestly, I was very blessed I was able to get through it health-wise, and everything that followed was great.”
Urias collected his 20th win with a bounce-back effort as he held the Milwaukee Brewers to just one run over 6.1 innings. Whether or not he would be in position to potentially qualify for a win wasn’t decided until the San Francisco Giants lost to the San Diego Padres.
“We all knew going into the game and that was a little bit of extra motivation to put our team in the best position to win and give ourselves the best chance to keep moving forward in the division,” Urias said.
His season closed at 20-3 with a 2.96 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over 32 starts.
“He’s been a horse for us all year long,” Justin Turner said. “We all know what he did in the postseason, stepping up by going in the bullpen, and then for him to come back and win 20 games this year is obviously incredibly special. Couldn’t be more happy for him.”
Roberts wanted ovation for Urias
While the Dodgers often used an opportunity to lighten the workload on their starters, manager Dave Roberts stuck with Urias to begin the seventh inning despite a comfortable lead.
“I just thought he’s had the best stuff that he’s had in probably five starts, he didn’t go through any stress, commanded the baseball, so I didn’t want to make a decision on a number as far as pitches,” Roberts explained after the win.
“Just watching him, felt that for him to go out there and get (Christian) Yelich, give the fans a chance to give him an ovation, and I liked the run for Phil. Couldn’t have played out any better.”
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