Urías lined up to start Dodgers’ opener; Kershaw `excited’

Associated PressMar 21, 2023, 11:48 PM EDT
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Julio Urías is lined up to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Opening Day – and that’s just fine with teammate Clayton Kershaw.

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts hasn’t announced his scheduled starter for March 30 against Arizona. Roberts, however, told reporters Tuesday that Urías will pitch Friday in a Cactus League game against Milwaukee as he returns to Dodgers camp from participating in the World Baseball Classic with Mexico.

That would put the left-hander on regular rest for the opener versus the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium, with Kershaw on track for the second game of the season.

Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, has made a franchise-record nine opening-day starts for the Dodgers (2011-18, 2021). Walker Buehler started the opener last season in Colorado.

“I’m excited for Julio to get to do it,” Kershaw said Tuesday. “I’m assuming Julio gets to do it. He deserves it. It is a special thing to get to do it. I think it should be whoever pitched the best the year before and he did that.”

The 26-year-old Urías went 17-7 with a 2.16 ERA in 31 starts last season and finished third in NL Cy Young Award balloting. He was 20-3 with a 2.96 ERA the year before.

Kershaw, who turned 35 on Sunday, is a nine-time All-Star with five ERA titles. But he’s been slowed at times by injuries in recent years. The left-hander was 12-3 with a 2.28 ERA in 22 starts covering 126 1/3 innings last season.

Kershaw pitched five innings Tuesday in a spring training game against the Cleveland Guardians. He allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and two strikeouts.

“It was his best of the spring and the last inning was his best inning,” Roberts said.

The 2014 NL MVP is 197-87 with a 2.48 ERA in 15 major league seasons.

“I wouldn’t have come back if I wasn’t excited about playing. I’m excited about our team. I’m excited about our chance to win,” Kershaw said. “Opening Day at Dodger Stadium, you just can’t take that for granted.”

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 9:19 PM EDT
dodgers syndergaard
Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”