Dodgers hold on to win Julio Urias' wild ride

It was a night of firsts for Julio Urias, who was as wild as he has ever been since getting called up but still managed go deeper than ever before in the Dodgers' 6-5 win over the Brewers to open a three-game series at Miller Park.

The second straight win for the Dodgers was the first major league win for Urias, in his seventh major league start.

After walking just five batters total in his last five starts, Urias walked at least one batter in each of the first five innings on Tuesday, and six in all, setting a new career high. But for the most part, Urias was able to work around the walks because his stuff was so good.

The Brewers got only one hit in the first five innings, a two-run double by Ryan Braun with two outs in the third inning, but Urias still managed to pitch six innings. He did allow a second hit, a leadoff double to Jonathan Lucroy in the sixth, but stranded him too.

Urias threw a professional-high 100 pitches on Tuesday, the first Dodgers teenager to do so since Joe Moeller on June 25, 1962. With those six walks, it was rather amazing that Urias had only 100 pitches in his six innings. He completed the 6-6-6 line score with six strikeouts, and the Brewers had a devil of a time figuring him out.

Urias is the first Dodgers pitcher to win a game despite at least six walks since Zack Greinke walked seven in a win on July 3, 2013.

The Dodgers offense was complicit in the victory, providing a large enough cushion to give Urias relatively stress-free innings, and the lead gave manager Dave Roberts the peace of mind to stick with Urias after 85 pitches in his first five innings.

Eight of the nine Dodgers starters reached base on Tuesday, and the only one who didn't, catcher Yasmani Grandal, drove home two runs with RBI ground outs.

Even Urias got into the act, hitting the third of three straight two-out singles in the fourth inning to extend a rally and give the Dodgers a 5-2 advantage. It was the first hit and first RBI of Urias' MLB career.

The Dodgers for a second consecutive game were able to take advantage of a starting pitcher who pitched like garbage, this time running Chase Anderson out of the game after four innings, tagging him for six runs on eight hits. That makes 13 runs in two starts against the Dodgers this season.

Run of the Miller

Fresh off his self-imposed two days without starting in Pittsburgh, and following his stylish Charro suit on the team plane, a rejuvenated Adrian Gonzalez had himself quite a game in the series opener.

He singled and scored in the second, then doubled in a run and scored in the fourth. He was hit by a pitch on the foot and later singled, then walked intentionally with runners on in the eighth. Gonzalez reached base five times for the first time in 2016, and for the 15th time in his career.

Gonzalez has reached base five times at least once in 10 consecutive seasons.

At Miller Park, Gonzalez has excelled throughout his career. Including Tuesday, Gonzalez is now hitting .420/.507/.795 with 12 doubles, 10 home runs, 30 runs and 30 RBI in 29 games in Milwaukee.

Pick of the litter

After Jonathan Villar walked to open the first inning, Urias threw over twice, then on the third try picked Villar off. But the Brewers challenged the call, and on replay review the call was overturned. But before even throwing another pitch, Urias threw over a fourth time and picked off Villar for good this time.

That was the fourth straight game with a pickoff for Urias, who is tied for the major league lead on the season despite making only seven starts. Dating back to Triple-A, Urias has nine pickoffs in his last 11 starts.

Close call

The Dodgers were up four runs to start the eighth inning, but Pedro Baez didn't retire any of the three batters he faced, certainly not helped by an error on a potential double-play ball by Corey Seager. The lead was cut to 6-4 with Lucroy on second base when Joe Blanton entered in relief.

Chris Carter nearly tied the game with a home run, hitting ball to the deepest part of the ballpark in center field. Joc Pederson made a spectacular running catch but slammed into the wall at full speed in doing so and immediately collapsed to the ground. Lucroy scored from second on a super rare two-base sacrifice fly to trim the Dodgers' lead to one.

Blanton walked two batters to put the tying run in scoring position, then with two outs uncorked a wild pitch. Hernan Perez tried to score from second base on the wild pitch, potentially the second two-base advancement of the inning for Milwaukee, but Blanton caught the throw from Grandal then applied the tag before Perez could ever touch home plate, protecting the lead by the slimmest of margins.

Kenley Jansen then retired the side in order in the ninth, a much cleaner inning, to complete the win.

Up next

Brock Stewart makes his major league debut in the middle game of the series on Wednesday, another 5:10 p.m. PT start. Junior Guerra starts for Milwaukee.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: none

WP - Julio Urias (1-2): 6 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts

LP - Chase Anderson (4-8): 4 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs (5 earned runs), 2 walks

Sv - Kenley Jansen (23): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts