It’s doubtless nobody has in contrast Julio Urías to a tortoise. As a result of he hails from Culiacan, Mexico, his nickname is “Culichi,” not “Tortuga.”
However attain excessive atop that dusty bookshelf and seize “The Tortoise and the Hare” from Aesop’s Fables. Solid Cincinnati Reds triple-digit marvel Hunter Greene because the speedy hare. Urías and his slow-pokey pitches topping out at 93 mph are you-know-who.
We all know who gained that race.
This one adopted an analogous script. The Dodgers bought to Greene within the sixth inning and cruised to a 5-2 win Saturday evening in entrance of fifty,039 at Dodger Stadium.
Greene, a former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame Excessive star making his second main league begin in entrance of household, associates and fellow alums from the MLB City Youth Academy in Compton, reached or exceeded 100 mph extra usually than every other pitcher in main league historical past.
In actual fact, he obliterated the earlier file of 33 100-plus-mph pitches set by the New York Mets’ Jacob deGrom final June. Greene caught and handed deGrom as quickly as his choices reached the catcher’s mitt, hitting triple-digits 11 occasions within the fifth inning alone to present him 39 within the recreation.
“We confronted a troublesome buyer in Hunter Greene,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “We needed to scratch and claw. It’s a particular arm.”
As soon as his four-seam fastball dipped underneath 100, nonetheless, the Dodgers drilled it. Austin Barnes stroked a single to proper on a 98.7-mph pitch to steer off the sixth, and Trea Turner — batting leadoff as a result of Mookie Betts had the night off — adopted with a house run on a 98.9-mph pitch for a 2-0 lead. Turner additionally singled, extending his hitting streak to 27 video games.
Greene was lifted with one out within the sixth, having thrown 80 pitches, 50 for strikes. The typical pace of his 57 fastballs was 100.2 mph. Buck Farmer changed him, and a two-out, two-run single by Chris Taylor doubled the Dodgers’ result in 4-0.
Urías matched Greene pitch for pitch — albeit at a comparative crawl — by means of 5 innings. Not till Tyler Stephenson drilled a one-hop shot by means of second baseman Max Muncy with one out within the fifth did Urías enable a success. The second Reds hit was one other innocent single by Stephenson within the eighth.
Six days after getting shelled by the Colorado Rockies with alarmingly diminished velocity, the Dodgers left-hander mowed by means of the Reds’ lineup. He sat at 92-93 mph, a tick decrease than his 94-mph common final season when he went 20-3, however higher than the 91-mph fastballs the Rockies noticed.
Roberts lifted him after solely 65 pitches. The Dodgers added a run within the seventh, and the Reds scored each of theirs within the ninth.
“I felt like myself,” Urías stated. “It felt unusual final week in Colorado. However I made changes, labored on mechanics, and it felt good.”
Greene might need been outdueled by the artful Urías, however his immense expertise is apparent and he has formidable aspirations exterior the chalk strains. To introduce Black children to the attract of the nationwide pastime. To develop the sport to new demographics in new markets throughout the globe. To determine his personal legacy as an envoy for the sport in deprived communities.
These goals started 15 years in the past when he joined the City Youth Academy, and he repeats them now as a 22-year-old Reds rookie, not shy about stressing the importance of pitching at Dodger Stadium 24 hours after Jackie Robinson Day.
“To be right here as a Black participant and as a younger man to characterize him and what he stood for is tremendous essential,” he stated, pausing to collect himself as tears welled in his eyes. “To shed that gentle on our group as nicely, and let these youngsters know they will do it, and do it with grace, and at all times be poised, and to characterize.
“It’s not nearly your self. It’s about your loved ones and the following era that follows.”
Greene’s influence shall be predicated on him pitching nicely. Ought to he change into simply one other overhyped phenom who flames out prematurely, these noble goals will die alongside together with his profession. Saturday’s efficiency was an encouraging step.
No less than one participant within the Dodgers’ dugout pulled for Greene. David Worth, a Black pitcher who was the primary general choose in 2007, sees a youthful model of himself in Greene, who was the second general choose in 2017.
“I see how exhausting he works,” Worth stated earlier than the sport. “I do know he was raised nicely. I can see that. I’m for him. Hopefully we rating three unearned runs, he goes six innings, then we pour it on after that.”
Turned out two runs have been unearned and there was no have to pour it on. Greene was spectacular, Urías was higher, and the Dodgers (6-2) gained their fifth in a row.
Revisiting pursuit of perfection
Along with lifting Clayton Kershaw after seven good innings Wednesday towards the Minnesota Twins, Roberts made one other choice that spoke to how little an ideal recreation meant to him.
The Dodgers led 3-0 within the seventh and Roberts had Blake Treinen warming up. Had the rating remained a save state of affairs, he doubtless would have gone with Treinen within the eighth and Craig Kimbrel within the ninth, maximizing the chance that the Dodgers might have come away with a mixed good recreation.
Cody Bellinger, Gavin Lux and Barnes hit consecutive residence runs within the prime of the eighth, nonetheless, and with a snug 6-0 lead Roberts as a substitute went with center reliever Alex Vesia within the backside of the inning. Vesia retired the primary batter, however Gary Sanchez singled, ending the shot on the twenty fourth good recreation in historical past.
Roberts opted to maintain Treinen and Kimbrel rested with the Dodgers’ residence opener looming the following day. Treinen believes his supervisor made all the precise choices.
“As soon as we doubled the rating, the choice wasn’t tough,” he stated. “Get different guys work. We're interested by profitable ball video games, many ball video games.”
From an afterthought to indispensable
Kyle Farmer was a throw-in, the final piece in an enormous wage dump of a commerce after the 2017 season that despatched Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Woods and Farmer from the Dodgers to the Reds for Homer Bailey, Jeter Downs and Josiah Grey.
Farmer broke into the massive leagues with the Dodgers as a backup catcher and light-hitting utility infielder, and that’s about all of the Reds anticipated from him. However final season he stepped right into a beginning position at shortstop and flourished, batting .263 with 16 residence runs and 63 RBIs in 147 video games. He made solely 5 errors, and superior fielding metrics had him above common.
The job once more was his in spring coaching, a lot to his aid.
“I strictly targeted on shortstop, which was cool,” Farmer advised reporters throughout spring coaching. “With the ability to not must placed on the catcher’s gear was very nice, and never having to do blocking drills and fear about that. It’s exhausting to focus on catching and infield, as a result of it’s two polar-opposite positions.”
Farmer, whose wage jumped from $640,000 to $3.155 million in his first yr of arbitration, went one for 4 Saturday and is batting .300.
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