Coming out of their first off day, the Los Angeles Dodgers fell flat in an 8-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals at Camelback Ranch. The eight runs were the most the club has allowed in any Cactus League game this year.
Julio Urias was less than sharp in his third appearance of the spring, allowing five runs (one earned) on two hits over 2.1 innings of work. He did strike out five batters, however, and was able to bounce back from a sloppy first inning in particular.
The left-hander revealed after the game that despite the results, he was pleased with his timing while pitching out of the stretch. “I think I’m getting a little bit closer,” he said.
“It’s something I’ve been working on in spring, trying to get to that point where I’m finalizing the approach from the stretch.”
Similar to past Spring Trainings, the main focus for Urias has been pitching as well as he can. “It was a little bit of the same thing I always come in to do. Try to fine tune all my pitching and everything I’m trying to do and accomplish,” he said.
“Mainly to come in and attack and attack. It’s something I’ve been working on the last couple years and it’s kind of where my focus has been.”
The expectation heading into camp was that Urias would earn the final spot in the Dodgers’ Opening Day starting rotation. While that still may be the case, he hasn’t officially heard from the team on what his role will be this season.
“I’m coming out here every five days, preparing the best I can, giving them everything I can and giving them 100% of my effort every time I go out there,” Urias said.
“Like I said before, those decisions are up to them. It’s not something that I focus on.”
Urias not seeing much of a difference in Spring Training compared to previous years
After a brilliant 2020 postseason that ended with him recording the final out in Game 6 of the World Series, Urias does not have to prove himself as much this spring when compared to previous years.
Even so, Urias hasn’t noticed much of a difference in 2021 Spring Training. “No, it’s just baseball. You come in here and try to give your 100% all the time,” he said.
“Come in here and try to do the best you can. The results sometimes don’t show it. First outing, it was 27 pitches and I don’t feel like I got anybody out.
“Then the next one I throw 32 and it was three clean ones. Today was a little bit odd and rough, but at the same time just trying to come out here, compete and give my 100% at all times.”
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