Urias comes up big as Dodgers get out of Florida with a win

MIAMI — Julio Urias said, “No mas.” After three sloppy, mistake-filled losses to the lowly Miami Marlins, it would have been beyond embarrassing for the Dodgers to get swept. So, Urias took it upon himself to make sure that that didn’t happen on Thursday in the series finale. Urias pitched a seven-inning gem, and the Dodgers got some timely hitting to prevail over the Marlins 6-1 to salvage the last game of the series and end the road trip on a winning note.

Urias gives up a tater, then settles in

It didn’t really look like Urias was going to be grabbing any headlines in the early going of Thursday’s ballgame, which was another of those ridiculous East Coast day games that started before most Angelinos had had their morning coffee. In the bottom of the first inning, Marlins leadoff man Jazz Chisholm took Urias deep on Julio’s third pitch of the game. And, Urias continued to scuffle a bit in the first inning, giving up a walk and a single before recording the third out of the inning.

But that was it. The Marlins would barely touch Urias for the next six innings. He didn’t have the best curveball today, but the rest of his pitches were working, and he kept Marlins hitters guessing most of the day, striking out nine in his afternoon’s work. He scattered a total of five hits on the day, and only issued two free passes, so outside of that first inning, it was pretty much shutdown mode all afternoon. His final line for the day was impressive: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 9 K.

Offense comes alive in the middle innings

With a good pitching performance on the mound, the offense seemed to rise to the challenge on Thursday as well. They got only one extra base hit, a Chris Taylor double, but they were spraying singles all over the yard most of the afternoon. They broke through against Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara in the top of the fourth when Chris Taylor singled home Matt Beaty to tie the game. Beaty reached on a throwing error and stole second to get into scoring position, so in this inning the Dodgers were looking very much like the Marlins earlier in the week.

Five in the fifth

With the game now tied and Urias still shutting down the Fish, the Dodgers’ bats went right back to work in the top of the fifth. The Dodgers sent nine men to the plate and scored five runs before the inning was over. Pitcher Julio Urias led off with the first of four straight Dodger singles. Then, he took second when Mookie Betts lined a single into center field. Max Muncy then singled and suddenly the bases were loaded with Dodgers. Not a bad way to start the inning. Now it was time to start cashing in. First, Matt Beaty squirted a run-scoring single through the right side of the infield to score Urias and break the tie.

But the Dodgers were just getting started. Will Smith brought home a second run for the visitors with a one-out sacrifice fly. Then, in the biggest hit of the inning, Chris Taylor ripped a ball down the left field line that caromed off the bag and bounced into shallow left field for a double On the play, Muncy came home to score and Beaty advanced to third.

Error leads to two more Dodger runs

Then, in a little turnabout-is-fair-play action, the Dodgers were finally the one to benefit from bad defense. Zach McKinstry hit what seemed to be an inning-ending grounder to Jazz Chisholm at second, but the rookie didn’t field the ball cleanly and it skipped off his glove into shallow center field. Two runs scored, and suddenly a 4-1 deficit had ballooned to 6-1.

That was all the Dodgers would need. But it was plenty. On the day, the first three hitters in the lineup, Betts, Muncy, and Beaty, went a combined 6-for-14, and Chris Taylor added a two-hit day of his own.

After Julio Urias was lifted after seven innings and 101 pitches, the Dodgers bullpen finished things up. No doubt they were grateful to Urias for his effort, since most of the arms in the pen had been used and used a lot on this road trip. It ended up being Blake Treinen and Garrett Cleavinger who finished things up. Treinen gave up a couple of hits, but pitched a scoreless eighth, and then Cleavinger pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to end the ballgame and secure the Dodger win.

Back to Chavez Ravine and a date with the D’backs

The Dodgers finished the road trip on an up note, and no doubt will be glad to see the All-Star break on the schedule starting Monday. But first, they have some business to attend to with the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend. They’ve got David Price heading up yet another bullpen game on Friday (no Kershaw), and then Buehler and Gonsolin finish things up on Saturday and Sunday. There is still a chance that the Dodgers may end up in first place at the break, as the Giants have to contend with the Nats for their final series of the first half. As it is now, the Dodgers are one game out of first place. Let’s see if we can change that before we turn our attention to Denver.