Dodgers turn to Julio Urias in series finale in Chicago

The Dodgers try for a series split on Thursday morning against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and will do so without Yasiel Puig in the lineup for a third straight day, presumably still nursing the sore hamstring that scratched him from Tuesday's lineup.

Puig did pinch hit in Wednesday's game, and flew out.

Trayce Thompson gets the start in right field, with Carl Crawford starting for a third straight game in left field.

Julio Urias is on the mound, making his second major league start, looking to continue the Dodgers' run of good pitching. The team has allowed just four runs in the first three games of this series, yet has lost two of the first three games.

The Dodgers allowed seven runs in a four-game Wrigley Field series in 2015, and also split the series. In 2013 they allowed just six runs in four games, and swept the Cubs. The latter was during the club's 42-8 streak.

In 1988, the Dodgers just after the All-Star break allowed just eight runs in a five-game sweep at Wrigley Field (there were makeups of earlier rainouts), and actually the club allowed 10 runs in six games in the series, but one of the games was a 2-2 "tie," a game that was suspended due to darkness and under the rules of the time replayed from the beginning, with the stats from that game still counting.

This is the understatement of the year, but Urias will need better command than he had in his debut, one that saw him need 81 pitches to record just eight outs. The Cubs are third in the National League, seeing 3.96 pitches per plate appearance.

The Mets, who are second at 4.00 pitches per PA (the NL average is 3.85, and the Dodgers are 14th at 3.76), saw 4.76 pitches per PA against Urias, who went to three balls to seven of his 17 batters faced on Friday.

Game info

Time: 11:20 a.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA