It took him three tries, but Julio Urias finally looked like he belongs in the major leagues.
The 19-year-old left-hander, ranked one of baseball’s top prospects, gave up one run in four innings and racked up seven strikeouts in a game the Dodgers won over the Colorado Rockies 4-3, on Trayce Thompson’s ninth-inning home run.
Granted, it was Urias’s third try against Major League hitters, and first success, but perhaps this is what he is really about.
And maybe he can help build a bridge for the team until it finds some veteran pitching help with the aid of those Time Warner Cable billions.
Urias was battered in his first two outings — 2.2 innings away to the Mets, three earned runs. Five innings away to the Cubs, five earned.
Eighteen baserunners in 7.2 IP, an ERA of 9.39. Gulp.
Was he just another overrated Dodgers prospect?
Then came tonight’s start at Chavez Ravine, the first at home for the left-hander from Mexico, and he conceivably could have gotten through four scoreless innings had not Howie Kendrick played a flyball like a converted infielder, turning it into an RBI double.
Urias didn’t get deep in the game, again. That went unchanged. He had thrown 86 pitches after four innings, the most he has thrown at any level this year, and manager Dave Roberts lifted him.
The Dodgers bullpen, asked to go five innings, leaked two runs, which probably is about as good as the team can hope from those guys, and Kenley Jansen got the win when Thompson went deep.
The Dodgers are at least two starting pitchers short of a competent big-league starting rotation, but Urias could reduce that number to one, if he reprises this performance.
It is believed the Dodgers will not want to let Urias throw much more than 90 innings this year — his previous season high for innings pitched was 87.2 at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2014.
He has thrown 11.2 with the Dodgers, and he had 41 at Oklahoma City before he was called up, or 52.2 total this year.
Let’s be optimistic and assume he lasts an average of six innings from here on out … and that would put him at 88.2 innings after six more starts — about five weeks from now.
That would be just ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, and perhaps the Dodgers would have back either Hyun-jin Ryu (shoulder surgery) or Brandon McCarthy (elbow surgery) … and could buy a vaguely competent veteran to shore up their rotation. Allowing Urias to take the rest of the season off, and the Dodgers to get Mike Bolsinger back to Triple-A, where it looks like he belongs.
Urias, at least, has shown the potential to be a solid every-fifth-day starter. If we squint hard, it looks like the Dodgers have four-fifths of a competent rotation — Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda and Urias.
Any team working on a 25-year, $8.35 billion cable deal ought to be able to find someone they can afford, right?
Meantime, Urias could buy the Dodgers time to find that fifth man, but the clock is ticking.
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