Julio Urías enjoyed a successful rehab start for the Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Sunday, throwing 60 pitches over four innings as he looked to clear another hurdle before returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation.
Manager Dave Roberts said the plan for Urías was to complete four innings or stretch out to 60 pitches in his first game action since going on the 15-day injured list May 19 because of a left hamstring strain.
Urías struck out eight of 15 batters faced and held the Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego Padres affiliate) to just two hits and one run in the Quakes’ 7-1 win.
Following the outing, Urías said he was pleased with the rate at which he threw a first-pitch strike and would look to continue with that upon getting activated:
“Just consistency. Obviously try to take little things from here, especially first-pitch strikes. I was really good about executing first-pitch strikes, so try to take that from here to my next start.”
Urías got a strike over on his first pitch to 11 batters. In 10 starts for the Dodgers this season, he’s thrown a first-pitch strike 62.6% of the time.
That’s down from last year’s 66.6% average, which also was a decline from the 2021 season when Urías averaged a strike on his first pitch at a career-best 70.7% rate.
When is Julio Urías returning?
The Dodgers expect to activate Urías off the IL at some point during their upcoming road series against the Kansas City Royals.
That presumably would come in the finale at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday, as it would allow for Urías to take the mound on extra rest and push Clayton Kershaw back a day as well.
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