Steve Webb
GOODYEAR, AZ — Julio Urias looked great in his second start, and the Dodgers offense exploded for a twelve-spot on Wednesday night as they trounced the newly named Cleveland Guardians 12-1 in an evening game at the Guardians facility in Goodyear, Arizona. In addition, David Price was solid in his Cactus League debut and non-roster guy Eddy Alvarez hit a grand slam as part of an eight-run ninth inning. It was a good night all the way around.
Urias used all his pitches in a near-perfect outing. He gave up just a pair of hits, and struck out three. In all he threw just 40 pitches, garnering seven ground ball outs in the course of a scoreless four-inning outing.
David Price, on the other hand, had a shorter outing, but looked just as good. In a fifteen-pitch relief outing, Price pitched a scoreless frame and struck out two. In postgame interviews, Price said that the delay in his ramp up was sort of par for the course for him, but was exacerbated by the short spring training. “The first two weeks have always been a grind for me since 2011,” he said, “but I’m through that, and I felt good out there.”
As for Alvarez, he continues to shine in his Cactus League play. His homerun was the third of the spring, and he now has 6 RBI. Only Edwin Rios has put up better power numbers this spring.
Like Jake Lamb, Alvarez is playing too well to be cut. However, there are just no real spots for these two guys. Maybe they can be leveraged as trade bait for another arm, or just kept at OKC just in case somebody goes down with injury this season. Whatever their fate, these two guys have proven themselves worthy of a big league contract somewhere. Let’s keep an eye on them both.
