Urías gives 'pen rest with 7 strong innings

MIAMI -- With an already taxed bullpen and a scheduled bullpen day set for Friday, the Dodgers desperately needed one of their starters to provide length. Julio Urías gave them exactly that.

Urías turned in one of his best outings of the season, allowing one run over seven innings, helping the Dodgers snap a three-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over the Marlins on Thursday at loanDepot park.

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“I thought today, first and foremost, it was about Julio,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He understood the situation we’re in as far as needing to win a ballgame and where our pitching is at.”

The left-hander’s day didn’t get off to a strong start, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. greeted Urías with a leadoff homer that became a souvenir for the campers in the upper deck. But that was one of the few loud swings against Urías, who allowed just four hard-hit balls and was seemingly on cruise control the rest of the day.

Urías said he didn’t have the best command in the first inning, seeing his pitch count quickly climb up to 22. But after getting a key double play in the second, the left-hander settled in. He had all three of his pitches working, recording 12 swings-and-misses and striking out nine.

“That was big,” said Dodgers left fielder Matt Beaty. “Bullpen game yesterday, so Julio coming out and throwing the way he did and bouncing back from the first at-bat … We needed that.”

The 24-year-old got through six innings at 95 pitches, which was just one shy of his season-high. But with the bottom of the order due up, Roberts sent Urías back out in the seventh and the left-hander was able to retire the side on just six pitches.

“I asked him how he felt and he said he felt good,” Roberts said. “I saw him repeating his delivery and I saw the stuff hold. Right there, to try and get through Chisholm was big for us. It was important, and he did it.”

Urías said he came into the start understanding the importance of giving the team length on Thursday given how taxing the last week has been for the bullpen. He also added that he would’ve been ready to pitch the eighth, if needed. Still, he was pleased with how his stuff played and the length he provided.

“You see what the bullpen has done the last few days and you put it on yourself to try and get as far as you can,” Urías said. “Luckily I was able to do that today.”

His ability to get through seven innings allowed the Dodgers to stay away from most of their relievers, giving the unit a much-needed reset before Friday’s bullpen game. The 101 pitches are a new season-high for Urías, and it tied his career-high, which he set in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series against the Braves last October.

The Dodgers certainly needed every single one of the pitches Urías threw as the performance couldn’t have come at a better time. Clayton Kershaw will miss his next start -- and possibly longer -- as he deals with left forearm inflammation. He will undergo an MRI in Los Angeles on Friday. Then there’s the Trevor Bauer situation, which remains an unknown as Major League Baseball continues its investigation on sexual assault claims against the right-hander. It was announced Thursday that Bauer’s administrative leave will be extended another seven days, effective on Friday.

That leaves the Dodgers with just three starting pitchers for the foreseeable future, and they will ask a lot out of them. Urías, who is already at a career-high in innings at the big league level, will carry a lot of that load. He certainly stepped up on Thursday.

“I feel really healthy, I feel really good,” Urías said. “Now we just have to get ready for the second half and try to do the best that I can.”