Masterful Urias outduels Gonzales in Dodger Win

If you like great Dodger pitching, have I got the game for you! If you like the Dodgers to, you know, score, today was a bit of a downer. But as the maxim goes, good pitching beats good hitting, and today, the Dodgers got just that in the finale of the short series in Seattle. They managed to scratch across just one run, but that was all the Julio Urias needed. The Boys in Blue came away victorious this afternoon against the Mariners by a score of 1-0.

Truth be told, both starting pitchers were magnificent. Marco Gonzales, the M’s starter, exhibited pinpoint control that had the Dodgers hitters off balance all day. Gonzales gave up only two hits all day. Unfortunately, those hits both came in the same inning, the third, when the visitors managed to plate their only run. AJ Pollock led off with a double and moved to third on an Edwin Rios groundout.

After a walk to Austin Barnes, Chris Taylor scorched a line drive up the middle that looked like it was an easy hit. M’s infielder Dylan Moore had other ideas, though. He leaped to his right, fully extended his body and made a sensational catch. It was the second spectacular play for Moore this series. Not to worry though. On the very next pitch, Corey Seager lined a single into the outfield, and the Dodgers were up 1-0.

And that was it. Nobody scored anything for either team the rest of the day. The reason? Julio Urias. After a brilliant first start, the young hurler had a couple of successive clunkers, raising his ERA to 3.86 at game time. But today, Julio brought the good stuff to T-Mobile Park. Constantly working ahead in the count, Urias pounded the strike zone. In fact, he had so many 0-2 counts that it became a running joke with broadcasters Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser.

For his entire outing, there wasn’t a single hard-hit ball, and in fact most of the M’s hitters didn’t hit the ball at all. Urias fanned a career-high eleven Mariners today, and only gave up a single hit. Early in the game, leadoff hitter Mitch Haniger was able to beat out a bleeder on the right side of the infield. Other than that, Julio Urias was untouchable today. His final line for the afternoon: 7 IP, 1 H, O ER, 11 K. Simply brilliant.

His buddy Victor Gonzalez came in and pitched a scoreless eighth, aided by his awkward but effective fielding of a come-backer for the final out of the inning. The Dodgers tried to scratch across a run in the ninth, but Chris Taylor was cut down at the plate trying to score on a grounder to Kyle Seager.

Then came the ninth and Kenley Jansen. And the big man must have been inspired by the young whippersnappers who proceeded him today, because he too was nearly flawless. Leadoff hitter Mitch Haniger gave one a ride, but it seemed to die in the outfield and landed harmlessly in AJ Pollock’s glove for the first out. After that little mini- heart attack, Jansen was on fire. He struck out the final two hitters of the game, sometimes reaching 97 mph on the radar gun, a speed he hasn’t hit in a good long time. More of this please, Kenley.

The Dodgers, now 14-4 have a day off tomorrow. And hopefully, there will be a little extra BP in there somewhere before Thursday because the mighty Padres are headed to town for another critical early season series. Walker Buehler gets the ball on Thursday, 7:10 start.

Rest up, boys, and be ready to play this weekend!