Here’s how the SF Giants responded to the Dodgers’ sudden pitching change

SAN FRANCISCO — Julio Urías was the only 20-game winner in the majors and was set up to face the Giants with full rest between starts after leading the Dodgers to a Game 2 victory.

Urías, however, won’t start a winner-take-all Game 5 against the Giants at Oracle Park on Thursday. The Dodgers will instead send reliever Corey Knebel to the mound as an “opener” with the expectation Urías will throw multiple innings later on in Thursday’s game.

The announcement came seven hours prior to first pitch and left the Giants hustling to adjust a lineup that was expected to be filled with their best right-handed bats.

“Trying to predict — and this probably goes for both sides — trying to predict exactly how the game is going to play out, I don’t think that anybody’s going to be able to do that,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said pregame. “There’s just too many variables to consider, too many things that could take that first read on it off script.”

Roberts said the decision to use an opener in front of Urías was made from the “tippy-top” of the organization and is a credit to the flexibility of the left-hander, who has pitched almost exclusively in relief prior to 2021.

“I think that the first look is to say that it’s a slight on Julio, which it’s actually my compliment to him being able to adjust, and also allowing for other guys to have the best opportunity to take down outs,” Roberts said .”So I kind of — so we did lay it out and he completely understood kind of the thought behind it.”

The Giants have to prepare for various possibilities that include Knebel pitching more than one inning, another right-handed reliever such as Brusdar Graterol or Joe Kelly, following Knebel or Urías entering the game as soon as the second inning.

Kapler said Roberts informed him of the decision over text on Wednesday evening, so the Giants had 24 hours to contemplate their lineup. The Giants didn’t deviate too much from their original plan, but there are some slight tweaks to the lineup the team anticipated using when Urías was expected to start.

The Giants’ lineup was announced within 90 minutes of first pitch

1. Tommy La Stella, 2B
2. Darin Ruf, LF
3. Buster Posey, C
4. Brandon Crawford, SS
5. Kris Bryant, CF
6. Mike Yastrzemski, RF
7. Wilmer Flores, 1B
8. Evan Longoria, 3B
9. Logan Webb, RHP

The Giants against Urías

With the expectation that Urías will pitch at some point in Thursday’s game, the Giants have several key right-handed bats in their lineup including Darin Ruf and Wilmer Flores.

The two right-handed hitters who homered off Urías in the regular season, Austin Slater and Donovan Solano, are not in the starting lineup as both will be available off the bench and could enter as soon as the Dodgers call on Urías. Tommy La Stella, who is 3-for-8 with two walks in the series, will bat leadoff and start at second base despite dealing with left Achilles soreness that’s limited his range on defense.

“He just hasn’t had the big hit in this series, and it’s been a little bit since he’s been at his best,” Kapler said of Ruf. “But what I’ll say is, the at-bat quality has consistently been good and he’s just been facing some nasty, nasty stuff.”

One of the biggest keys for the Giants against Urías is receiving contributions from trade deadline acquisition Kris Bryant, who has teamed up with catcher Buster Posey to lead the offense during the NLDS. Bryant is 6-for-13 with a home run thus far, but he went 0-for-4 in Game 2 as he struggled against the Dodgers lefty.

Regular season head-to-head stats vs. Urías

Austin Slater: 6-for-17, 2 2B, 1 HR, 5 Ks

Kris Bryant: 4-for-13, 1 HR, 3 Ks

Buster Posey: 9-for-18, 3 2B, 1 K

Darin Ruf: 4-for-16, 1 2B, 5 Ks

Brandon Crawford: 4-for-15, 1 2B, 4 Ks

Wilmer Flores: 4-for-15, 3 Ks

Evan Longoria: 4-for-16, 5 Ks

Donovan Solano: 5-for-20, 1 HR, 4 Ks