While they most certainly would prefer otherwise, the Los Angeles Dodgers have made a habit of scratching players from the lineup and/or a scheduled start.
The latest change came Tuesday morning, with word Zach Lee, not Julio Urias, is starting Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies. While Lee is now slated to start, Urias is among the group of pitchers who are expected to make an appearance.
Both Lee and Urias are healthy, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his club’s walk-off loss to the Chicago White Sox.
Roberts added the young pitchers are “in the conversation” to be named the Dodgers’ fifth starting pitcher come the regular season, and Lee being given the nod shouldn’t be viewed as the right-hander having a leg up on Urias.
It’s been widely presumed Brandon Beachy and Mike Bolsinger are the frontrunners in the competition. Bolsinger threw four scoreless innings and had two strikeouts on Monday, which was his third appearance (first start) of Spring Training.
Beachy essentially was wildly effective against the Chicago Cubs in his last start. He allowed allowed two doubles and bounced some breaking balls over three scoreless innings.
Urias made his 2016 Spring Training debut last week, striking out the side in the seventh inning, then getting chased in the eighth without recording an out.
He allowed a leadoff single, RBI double and RBI triple in consecutive at-bats, which led to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim quickly taking a 5-3 lead. Urias attributed the struggles to command issues with his fastball.
In 19 starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City last season, Lee went 11-6 with a 2.70 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. He missed all of June due to poor circulation in the middle finger of his right hand.
Lee’s Major League debut last season was stricken with some bad luck as the New York Mets pushed him around for seven runs on 11 hits over 4.2 innings. Lee allowed one hit and recorded one strikeout in two scoreless frames against the San Francisco Giants on March 4.
He gave up a three-run home run in the first inning of his second Spring Training start, but recovered to follow it with two shutout innings.
