Dodgers News: Julio Urias Was Fine with Dave Roberts’ Controversial Decision
Dave Roberts removed Julio Urias from Thursday night’s start after 89 pitches and just 5.1 innings. He prevented Urias an opportunity to get a win in the game, essentially ending his chance at back-to-back 20-win seasons.
Evan Phillips ended up stranding the runner on the bases, and the Dodgers didn’t score in the bottom of the sixth anyway.
But questions were still raised about Roberts’ decision to not let his ace finish the inning himself.
Urias didn’t seem to mind the decision at all.
“It was a lot of pitches in that inning, or in that game, and he felt like that was the best decision for the team,” Urías said through an interpreter. “You’ve got to respect what he wanted to do. We’ve got a long way to go and think about the postseason. It was the best thing we could do for that situation.”
Urias knows that a somewhat meaningless game in September pales in comparison to keeping his arm fresh for October. If the Dodgers had scored in the bottom of the sixth, then you’d feel a little bad for Urias. But, at 89 pitches, Roberts chose to take his starter out at a pretty respectable time. Here’s what he had to say about the decision:
“Coming off his last outing, this (start) was on regular rest, the first time in quite some time. So to try to find a way to get two more outs in the inning where we had Evan looming in a matchup we felt good about, I didn’t see much upside in saying ‘he completed six innings.'”
Roberts went on to say that Urias has “been an ace for us all year long,” and he wanted to manage his workload with the postseason nearing.
Related: Can Julio Urias Win the NL Cy Young over Sandy Alcantara?
Urias is expected to pitch two more times in the regular season before he’s almost certainly tabbed as the game one starter in the NLDS.
Do you think Urias should have remained in the game, or do you agree with Roberts’ decision? Let us know in the comments below!
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YES HE SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM IN. The way that idiot is already managing his pitching staff, pitching a maximum of 6 innings, means that the staff will have problems in the playoffs when they need to go farther. Of course, he can always use Kimbrell to lose with. His record in one run games is awful.
I don’t think he’d be so concerned about it if his pitching staff were fully healthy. They probably should have brought in some reinforcements on that front prior to the trade deadline. He’s got like 3 out of 5 starters injured, and Kimbrel had just been used the night before to get the game to the 10th after the Dodgers had tied it. Also, I think Dave was *fine* with Pujols getting his 2 home runs in Dodger Stadium, because he was a Dodger last season, which basically meant that he was fine with throwing the game to St Louis. Both of the Pujols homers came on what looked like slightly higher velocity home run derby type pitches. Why waste good pitching in a game where you appear to be managing out any competition?
You must be a Padre fan huh? Remember last year when max was out of gas and couldn’t pitch? Learn from mistakes bro. Save the arms during meaningless games for strength in the post season.
Every post season the players are worn out. Resting now is the best strategy. They play for the name on the front not the back. Enough with trying to let pitchers rack up titles and records. The most important title is World Series Champion.
Julio is an Ace, we need him well rested for Oct.
Yes he should have left him finish the inning. Roberts keeps doing same stupid things.one title in 6 tries means his dumb ideas nit that good with the team he manages. Also time to get Taylor playing time at second Gavin Lux not good defensively. these simple stupid moves by roberts not letting Julio pitch an extra inning that would help him keep lowering his era otherwise his era would have been under 2.00. He won’t say it but he won’t take the lock off. Urias deserves more respect from roberts and friedman cause without Julio dodgers don’t win World Series in 2020.
Another Roberts’ genius blunder!
As much as I would have loved to see Urias do everything necessary to get another win, I totally understand what Roberts did. The wins in October are the ones that matter now.
Roberts just doesn’t know how to manager a pitching staff. He went with Kimbrel
way to long and he seems to be hung up on using Bickford a lot. Alberto has a better era then Kimbrel
Urias had what is often career ending surgery five years ago. The fact that he’s so strong late season is a near miracle. This is a 104 game winning team in a meaningless game. Roberts is right to protect a multimillion dollar arm. The Dodgers have already suffered too many injury lost games this season.