The Angels needed a spot starter yesterday, and Urena showed his poise against the San Diego Padres.
The Los Angeles Angels weren’t sure who their starter was going to be yesterday in the series finale against the San Diego Padres, but when Walbert Urena was done with his spot start, the Angels were sure about what they’d just seen as the rookie pitched six innings of two-run ball in his first career start.
“He was awesome,” said manager Kurt Suzuki in a piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “His fastball command, he was attacking the zone. The changeup was really good, mixed in some breaking balls, but for the most part he was just attacking them, making them swing the bat, and if he's in the zone I think he’s going to be tough to hit.”
Urena started the weekend in Triple-A, but he was added to make the spot start because the Angels decided to push regular starters Reid Detmers and Jack Kochanowicz back a day because of their heavy workload at Yankee Stadium last week. Urena has been here before, but not as a starter.
He made the team coming out of spring training as a reliever, but the young pitcher struggled in his first two career outings, allowing six unearned runs in 1-2/3 innings. The relief game is new for Urena, and he promptly gave up six runs in 8-1/3 innings back at Salt Lake.
But Urena believees getting back into a starter’s routine helped produce yesterday’s success. He was called up as a long reliever on Saturday, then stepped into the breach yesterday to post an outing he described as “emotional” and “incredible.”
“I’d never been a reliever, so that was new for me,” Urena said. “I tried to get my routine as a reliever, but when I got back to Salt Lake, I started getting starts again. So, I think that's my best thing, starting.”
Urena hadn’t pitched since April 8, according to Bhollinger, and that may have helped with his velocity. Both his sinker and four-seam fastball averaged over 98 mph, with his changeup dropping to just over 91 to add contrast.
“I tried to keep doing what I’ve been doing the last couple months,” Urena said. “I think the changeup is my second-best pitch, so I just tried to throw there and see what we got.”
What Urena has now is more poise, which was especially noticeable yesterday. He was able to limit the damage to a single run when the Padres scored on him in the fourth inning, but the decision to bring him back in the seventh wasn’t a good one at all, as San Diego scored what would end up being the winning run.
“We felt like he was throwing the ball really well,” Suzuki said as he described what felt like an obvious mistake. “Me and [pitching coach Mike] Maddux were talking about it and, down by one, see if he can get us one more inning. We liked the way he was throwing it. He said he was feeling good. He was built up. He threw [87] pitches his last start and we liked the way he was throwing.”
What matters now is whether Urena can do it again. He’s going through the ups and downs of being a rookie pitcher, which are especially noticeable with the Angels because of the way they rush prospects like Urena. The Angels have him slotted in to face the Kansas City Royals this Saturday when they hit the road again, and that, too, will be a big test for Urena.