Steve Webb
NEW YORK, NY — The big issue of the first half of the season for the Dodgers was the pitching: starters not getting deep enough, bullpen pieces giving up leads, the whole thing was a mess. However, everything wrong with the first half went right as the Dodgers got into action in the second. Julio Urias pitched a masterpiece of six-inning, one-hit baseball, and the bullpen was perfect for the final three frames en route to a convincing 6-0 shutout win over the New York Mets.
For a good while in this game, though, it was a pitchers’ duel, matching El Culichi against the Mets’ overpriced future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. And though Verlander was uncharacteristically wild, he was keeping the Dodgers off the scoreboard in the early going. Urías, meanwhile, very nearly gave up a leadoff homer to Brandon Nimmo (changed to a double on appeal), but settled into a major groove after that, retiring 18 of the next 19 hitters, giving up only one walk in the rest of his outing.
“I feel good,” Urías said after the game in Spanish. “My leg feels good and everything is on track to allow me to have the second half that I want. I just have to forget about the first half and focus on the second half because this team is looking to do big things, and that’s what I’m focused on.”
“Just the way he threw the baseball, he was in complete command tonight,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I thought the sequencing was fantastic. Used his fastball just enough and I thought the secondary was good all night long.”
Offensively, it was the Dodgers’ All-Stars who broke the game open. After Verlander walked the bases loaded in the top of the fifth with one-out walks to Heyward, Outman, and Rojas, the top of the order was able to come through. Mookie Betts hit a single to left that scored the Dodgers’ first run, and then Freddie Freeman followed it up with a double down the right field line for two more. In the next inning, Miguel Rojas drove in a run with a clutch single, and then in the 8th, J.D. Martinez topped off the scoring when he went oppo taco for a solo home run.
Those six runs were more than enough to get the Dodgers the W. We all know that pitching, in the end, wins championships, and on this night, the pitching was more than up to the task, especially the Dodgers’ prized lefty.
“I was on the injured list for a while and now that I’m back, I feel like the vacation is over,” Urías said to reporters. “It’s time to get to work.”
Yep.
