Julio Urias seemed to be affected of pitching a fourth time in the past 12 days, and it cost the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 9-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series that dropped them to the brink of elimination.
Urias began his night in encouraging fashion, but the game began to get away from him in the second inning when Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall combined for back-to-back solo home runs. Freddie Freeman slugged the Braves’ third solo homer of the game the next inning.
Later in the third, a decision to intentionally walk Duvall backfired as Joc Pederson dropped a broken-bat RBI single into center field.
With the Dodgers facing the prospect of a bullpen game on Thursday, manager Dave Roberts elected to continue riding Urias despite his struggles. Atlanta extended their lead to 5-0 on Duvall’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
The Braves expected to have Huascar Ynoa start their bullpen game, but he was scratched due to right shoulder inflammation and subsequently replaced on the NLCS roster by Dylan Lee.
So Atlanta instead handed the ball to Jesse Chavez. He worked a perfect first inning and was followed by more spotless work from Drew Smyly.
The Dodgers didn’t have a baserunner until Corey Seager’s one-out walk in the fourth inning, and their first hit was Justin Turner’s single with one out in the fifth. L.A. nearly scratched in the bottom of the second but Gavin Lux was robbed of a potential home run by Duvall in the bottom of the second.
Turner’s base hit sparked a bit of a rally as Cody Bellinger ambushed the first pitch he saw for a single. The Braves turned to Chris Martin, who retired Chris Taylor on one pitch but then allowed a pinch-hit two-run single to AJ Pollock.
As the Dodgers were limping to a deflating loss, Turner came up lame on his attempt to avoid hitting into a double play in the seventh inning. However, he began to limp halfway up the line and was removed from the game with an apparent left hamstring injury.
Will Dodgers replace Justin Turner?
The Dodgers have the option of replacing Turner on their NLCS roster, but doing so would deem him ineligible if the team were to advance to the World Series. Should Turner come off the roster, the Dodgers would need to replace him with a position player.
Conceivable options are Zach McKinstry, Billy McKinney and Luke Raley.
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