After the Dodgers loss to the Nationals in Game 4 of the National League Division series, Julio Urias talked to Bill Plunkett of the OC Register to see how ready he was for the big moment in the 4th inning.
“I was ready to go in whatever situation,” Urias said through an interpreter. “I’ve done it before. I’ve pitched on back-to-back days. My mind was 100 percent ready. My arm was 100 percent ready. It’s just a situation where you can’t miss a lot of pitches and I missed a lot of pitches and I paid the price.” – Julio Urias
The price was definitely paid with a high tab to boot. The Dodgers were still tied with the Nationals at one run a piece and Kenta Maeda was “rolling” according to Jerry Hairston, Jr of SportsNet LA. Maeda came into the game in the 3rd inning to get the final out for Rich Hill after Hill gave up a run on a sacrifice fly from Anthony Rendon.
Maeda continued dealing by striking out the first two batters in Ryan Zimmerman and Kurt Suzuki in the bottom of the fourth inning. The only hit given up was to Michael Taylor, who hit a dribbler down the 3rd base line that Justin Turner couldn’t get to in time considering Taylor’s speed. One more fly out from Scherzer and Maeda was obviously in a groove.
Dave Roberts explained his decision making process for taking out Kenta and bringing in Julio, but this is just one of those situations where if no one scored, no one would have said a thing.
It’s just didn’t go the Dodgers way in that crucial 5th inning for Julio Urias as he gave up a single to Turner to lead off who then moved up to second on a sacrifice fly by Eaton. Rendon added to his RBI totals with a single to left that brought Turner in to score and then Howie Kendrick hit another single to center that moved Rendon to third.
That was it for Julio and then Pedro Baez came in and gave up a 3 run home run to Ryan Zimmerman, which basically blew it open and gave the Nationals the series-tying win.
