Dodgers @ Rockies April 7, 2019: Urias vs. Bettis on ESPN

Last night the Dodgers took the second game of the series against Colorado behind big offensive performances from Alex Verdugo and Cody Bellinger. Entering tonight’s game the team stands at 7-2 atop the NL West. Last season through nine games their record was 3-6 already four back of the Diamondbacks.

Julio Urias will take the mound for the second time this year, looking to help the team to their first sweep of the season. Based on when Clayton Kershaw returns, this could be his last start in a while. If you have spare time, check out what Daniel wrote recently on Urias, it’s good.

	Dodgers			Rockies
	5:37 p.m.			Colorado
LF	Pederson		RF	Blackmon
3B	Turner		SS	Story
SS	Seager		3B	Arenado
CF	Pollock		LF	Dahl
RF	Bellinger		1B	Reynolds
1B	Freese		CF	Desmond
2B	Hernandez		C	Iannetta
C	Barnes		2B	Hampson
P	Urias (L)		P	Bettis (R)

Urias is coming off of a stellar start against the Giants, in which he went five innings, allowing just three hits while striking out seven. He looks to continue that against a top-heavy Rockies lineup. Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, and David Dahl are all very good hitters. The rest of the lineup isn’t nearly as strong, and if he can control those top four, he should have another solid, although likely brief outing.

Chad Bettis is starting for the Rockies, coming off an outing in Tampa Bay in which he gave up six runs including two homers. Joc Pederson will be starting in left against the right-handed Bettis, but don’t be surprised if Verudgo gets the first nod off the bench over Chris Taylor. Verdugo has looked excellent so far, coming off the best game of his career with a triple and home run. If he were right-handed, Taylor would be completely out of playing time.

After five-inning starts from Kenta Maeda and Walker Buehler, Dave Roberts indicated he's hopeful Julio Urias goes longer than that tonight at Coors Field.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 7, 2019

It’s possible that Urias eclipses five innings, but much more than that will be difficult as I’d be surprised to see him near 100 pitches.

Joe Kelly is available tonight which will be exciting as always, but it’s good to hear that there were no serious issues after being hit by a come-backer Friday night. Kenley Jansen is most likely unavailable after a four-out save last night. The flip-side of this is the fact that he’s been looking more and more like the 2017 version of himself which would be much welcomed. Who knows, maybe having heart issues is a big deal and can potentially affect your mind and performance?

On Sunday Night Baseball tonight, Dave Freese will make his first start as a Dodger against a right-handed pitcher. He has mashed against Rocks starter Chad Bettis in years past.

— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) April 7, 2019

Max Muncy gets a day off as David Freese has a 1.262 OPS against Bettis over 11 PA. Sure, Muncy has a 1.643 OPS against Bettis in 10 PA, but a rest day is a rest day.

The #Dodgers recalled right-handed pitcher Dennis Santana from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned right-handed pitcher Brock Stewart to Oklahoma City.

— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) April 7, 2019

I was hopeful that the Stewart experience would last longer than four innings, but baseball is hard. Allowing eight earned runs over four innings will do that to you. Dennis Santana pitched one game last year for the Dodgers and it was at Coors Field. He went 3.2 innings while giving up 5 earned runs, but he still got the win. If Santana pitches well, Stewart may have a difficult time making it back to the MLB roster.

From @EliasSports: LAD's 72 runs are the most for any team through nine games since the 2000 Cardinals (75 runs) and the 22 home runs are tied for second-most in MLB history over a team’s first nine games, behind those 2000 Cardinals (25).

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) April 7, 2019

Contrary to popular belief, the Dodgers are a good baseball team! First pitch is at 5:37 PT on ESPN – Sunday Night Baseball.