The Los Angeles Dodgers have lost another starting pitcher to injury. Ace left-hander Julio Urías was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, the team announced Saturday. The Dodgers have not yet provided a timetable for his return. Righty Wander Suero was called up in a corresponding move.
Urías, 26, allowed six runs in three innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, and at one point he surrendered four home runs in the span of five batters. Other than the poor performance, there was no indication Urías was injured during that start. The free agent-to-be owns a 4.39 ERA on the season. A year ago Urías finished third in NL Cy Young voting.
The injury comes at a time when Los Angeles is without several other starting pitchers. Dustin May suffered a flexor pronator strain earlier this week and will miss at least a month. The team's rotation depth chart currently looks something like this:
LHP Julio Urías(hamstring strain)RHP Walker Buehler(Tommy John surgery)- LHP Clayton Kershaw
- RHP Tony Gonsolin
RHP Dustin May(flexor pronator strain)- RHP Noah Syndergaard
RHP Ryan Pepiot(oblique strain)- RHP Gavin Stone
RHP Michael Grove(groin strain)
Pepiot is not expected to return until sometime around the All-Star break and Buehler won't return until September, if he returns at all this season. Grove is tentatively scheduled to make a Triple-A rehab start this weekend. If that goes well, he could be activated off the injured list to replace Urías. Point is, the Dodgers are really pushing the limits of their rotation depth.
Even with the rotation injuries and some underperformance, Los Angeles enters play Saturday with a 29-17 record. They are in the first place in the NL West and have won 16 of their last 20 games.
