Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts couldn’t hide his excitement for Julio Urias’ Dodger Stadium debut. Roberts said the feeling was similar to the one he had prior to the young left-hander’s Major League debut.
However, the rookie manager was not yet ready to commit to Urias beyond Tuesday. That changed after the southpaw threw four innings against the Colorado Rockies, with seven strikeouts and just one run allowed on three hits.
“Yeah, Julio’s going to get another start,” Roberts said after his club’s walk-off victory. “We just think that to get through four innings, to labor, obviously the ‘pen the last two nights, but there’s still growth. We’re going to keep going and give him another opportunity.”
Urias was scheduled to start Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, but the Dodgers have since shuffled their rotation and he’s now slated to face the San Francisco Giants in a nationally televised game on Sunday night at AT&T Park.
Although Urias’ third career start fell short of the five innings he tossed against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, he threw a season-high 86 pitches. That can be attributed to the Rockies fouling off 19 pitches on the night; 14 of those came over Urias’ final two innings of work.
“The ability to get that empty swing — there’s some foul balls, borderline pitches that don’t go his way,” Roberts said. “Major League hitters, they can wait you out and run counts. He’s got to get to the point where he can get ahead of hitters and be able to wipe them out.”
