The Los Angeles Dodgers were in strong position for the series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates with Julio Urías on the mound, but had a 16-game winning streak in head-to-head meetings snapped.
Urías allowed two runs on 11 hits over six-plus innings and dealt with plenty of traffic, including working his way out of a jam with runners on second and third base with nobody out in the sixth. However, Urías gave up a leadoff home run in the seventh and was removed at 82 pitches.
It wasn’t Urías’ best work, and similar in terms of efficiency to his last start in which he was taken out after six shutout innings against the San Francisco Giants.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained he viewed the situation against the Pirates as being different due to Michael Perez being left-handed and the Pirates’ No. 9 hitter, via SportsNet LA:
“I just felt that Perez was a left-hander, I felt he was throwing the ball well enough to get a hitter and have (Phil) Bickford right behind him to get (Ke’Bryan) Hayes.”
Entering his final inning, Urías had only thrown 79 pitches, allowed one run, and continued to show his ability to execute a big pitch when needed. Although providing Urías with leeway to extend himself to the seventh inning came backfired, Roberts said it will not impact future decisions:
“I thought the way he threw the ball, he was efficient. The score dictated that he should keep going. He worked out of some trouble, but probably made his worst pitch of the night to Perez, and he took advantage of it.”
After six starts, Urías holds a 2-2 record with a 2.10 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP over 30 innings pitched. He has not completed seven innings in any start this season.
Even with Urías allowing a season-high 10 hits to the Pirates, he did manage to get his fastball up to 95 mph on multiple occasions.
Roberts says Dodgers, Urías are ‘in lockstep’
While the Dodgers have yet to fully unleash Urías this season, the organization and Roberts recognize the 25-year-old has only thrown more than 80 innings once in his career, which came last season when he threw 185.2.
Roberts understands that his starter would like to pitch deeper into the games, but insists they are ultimately on the same page in the event of a quick hook.
“I think I’ve built enough equity with Julio,” Roberts said last week. “Understanding the history, understanding he’s got a lot of great baseball ahead of him as well, so I really believe we’re in lockstep with how we’re using him. I really believe that.”
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