Rookie Walbert Urena, riding a five-start hot streak, will attempt to get the Los Angeles Angels back on track when he pitches the opener of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday in Phoenix.
The Angels saw their four-game winning streak end on Sunday when they lost 8-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the finale of a three-game series in Anaheim, Calif. The Diamondbacks won their three-game weekend set against the host Cincinnati Reds thanks to a 5-3 victory on Sunday.
Urena, a 22-year-old right-hander, is 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA since May 18, with 29 strikeouts and 16 walks in 28 innings during that span. He allowed more than one run only once in that five-outing stretch.
Urena (4-4, 2.44 ERA) threw five scoreless innings in a 10-1 home win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday. He permitted just three hits and struck out seven while matching his career high with five walks. Even though he has gone deeper into starts four times, Urena set a season high by throwing 107 pitches.
“He was competing out there tonight,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said after that game. “Obviously he didn’t have his best command, but just his desire to get through that game is what pulled him through. You can’t teach that. So, it was really nice to see him have that competitive nature to pull him through when he didn’t have his best command. It was fun to watch … but it was stressful to watch, too.”
Urena said, according to the Orange County Register, “I warmed up good. I felt really good. I don’t know what changed in the game. I may look it up, but that was a lot of pitches.”
When he faces the Diamondbacks for the first time, Urena may or may not have left fielder Wade Meckler in the lineup behind him. The Los Angeles rookie came out in the fifth inning of the Sunday game after hitting his head on the outfield fence while making an unsuccessful bid to reach Ben Williamson’s home run in the fourth.
Suzuki said postgame that the move to remove Meckler was precautionary.
The Diamondbacks will counter Urena with Ryne Nelson (2-5, 5.19). The 28-year-old right-hander will try to halt a three-game slump in which he is 0-2 with a 7.16 ERA.
Most recently, Nelson struggled in an 8-0 loss at Miami on Wednesday, when he yielded seven runs on eight hits, one walk and two hit batters in four innings against the Marlins. He struck out two.
Nelson said after that game, according to the Arizona Republic, “Gave up some hits and then left some balls over the plate with runners. Just wasn’t getting ahead of guys good enough.”
Looking ahead to his work ahead of his next outing, Nelson said, per the newspaper, “Same process, good, bad or indifferent. Just learn from it and try to make the adjustments to be better.”
In two career starts against the Angels, Nelson owns a 1-0 record and a 3.97 ERA. He threw four innings of four-run ball in a no-decision vs. Los Angeles last July 11, serving up a game-opening homer to Zach Neto.
The Diamondbacks will be looking to get Torey Lovullo, who has managed the team since the 2017 season, his 701st win on Monday. With the Sunday victory at Cincinnati, Lovullo joined Terry Francona, A.J. Hinch, Dave Roberts, Kevin Cash, Craig Counsell, Don Mattingly and Aaron Boone as the only active managers with at least 700 wins.
–Field Level Media
