Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Thinks Macro with Julio Urias Move
The race for the NL Cy Young Award is on as Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias delivered another master class against the Diamondbacks. All is looking right for Urias and the Dodgers heading into the postseason, except Dave Roberts taking Urias out after just 5.1 innings pitched.
Urias was on a tear allowing just one earned run after a mistimed throw by Gavin Lux in the third inning. Urias threw 89 pitches and was not eligible for the win but was still able to lower his ERA to 2.25 and surpassed the qualifying threshold to be eligible for the Cy Young Award.
It was a controversial moment to have Urias leave the game, but Urias didn't think twice about Robert's decision.
“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. 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.”
With Urias defending Roberts for his move, it's clear the main goal of the season is far more important. A good sign of confidence for Roberts as he gave his thoughts on his decision to pull Urias early and replaced him with Evan Phillips.
“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.’ He’s been an ace for us all year long, and it’s more of trying to manage the workload and pick spots.”
The mentality is right for the Dodgers is right where fans need them to be. The decision should further their success moving forward.
