Dodgers' Julio Urias with big shoes to fill soon

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias awaits to hear if he will be the team’s No. 2 starter this season, an even greater honor awaits down the road.

Urias is in line to take over as the Dodgers’ top left-handed starter at some point in the near future. Clayton Kershaw, who signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers once the lockout ended, still has the top lefty honor. He’s one of the best baseball has ever seen. But the Dodgers’ internal torch will have to be passed eventually.

In Urias’ final tuneup before the regular-season starts for the Dodgers on Friday at Colorado, Urias did not exactly look like the heir apparent the team hopes he eventually will become. He gave up five runs on six hits with three walks in just two-plus innings (61 pitches) in a 10-4 Freeway Series loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

“First and foremost, I felt good and I felt healthy,” Urias said through an interpreter. “Obviously the results didn’t show but I felt good and that’s the goal getting ready for our (season) start at Colorado.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts declined to say Monday if Urias will be his No. 2 starter on Saturday at Colorado. Right-hander Walker Buehler already has been tabbed to pitch in Los Angeles’ season opener at Denver on Friday.

“I think we’re set as far as the five guys that are going to start (the first) five games, I just don’t know what order,” Roberts said.

There is not a situation unfamiliar to Urias over the last few seasons. He was a hero of the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series championship run, and last year he tried in vain to deliver on short rest in the National League Championship Series.

Urias coughed up the lead in relief in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, then was rocked as a starter, while taking the loss in Game...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Dodgers-Julio-Urias-with-big-shoes-to-fill-soon-17057863.php