Julio Urías continued to have a resurgent second half on Tuesday with a strong start in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 5-4 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
The left-hander allowed four hits and collected five strikeouts over six scoreless innings. The performance came on the heels of Urías throwing five shutout innings in his previous start against the Oakland Athletics.
With the exception of a disastrous outing against the Baltimore Orioles on July 19, Urías has allowed three runs or fewer in four of his last five starts since the All-Star break.
The 26-year-old attributed his recent success to feeling more like himself on the mound, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“The results have been positive, but mostly just feeling like myself,” Urias said in Spanish. “Feeling like myself mechanically. Feeling like with all three of my pitches I can make an adjustment. That’s what I’m liking and I’m hoping I can keep that constant.
“There’s some things I still have to work on. Some pitches, first-pitch strikes I’m not always locating. Looking at the video to see what I can work on with that. But the truth is I really like how I’ve done.”
Coming off a stellar season that saw him finish third in National League Cy Young Award voting, Urías struggled to the tune of a 6-5 record, 4.76 ERA and 1.18 WHIP during the first half this year. He has since turned a corner by going 3-1 with a 3.54 ERA and 1.11 WHIP over his last five starts.
Urías has compiled a 9-6 record, 4.39 ERA, 4.45 FIP and 1.16 WHIP in 92.1 innings pitched across 17 total starts this season.
Dave Roberts expected Julio Urías to bounce back
Even with his struggles throughout much of the season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts maintained confidence that Urías will return to form by the time the postseason begins.
“This is who he is,” Roberts said of Urías before his start against the Diamondbacks. “If we can build on this on Monday, we’re in a good spot. The expectation is for Julio to go deeper, but it was my decision, given the workload prior to the start.”
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