Ureña struggles to throw strikes vs. Guardians

Ureña’s command still comes and goes, but it wasn’t an issue tonight. He walked none and allowed just one extra-base hit — a Spencer Jones homer — to the 25 Yankees he faced tonight. The victory evened his record at 9-9 to go along with a 2.85 ERA. He’d be a Rookie of the Year candidate in many seasons, but he’s behind Parker Messick and a couple of bats in this year’s AL class. He’ll likely face the Pirates on Sunday.

Ureña breezed through the early part of this game retiring the first eight batters he faced until Christian Vázquez took him deep for a solo shot. That seemed to knock him off his spot a little bit because he ran into trouble in the following inning. Yordan Alvarez hit a lead-off single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Then, he walked Isaac Paredes after an eight-pitch battle before Jose Altuve yanked a double down the line. Cam Smith later hit a sacrifice fly to put the Astros up. Ureña can struggle against right-handed batters – as he did during that Astros’ rally – as a changeup-first righty pitcher without a reliable sweeper. That’s what did him in during that inning, but this was still a fine start as Ureña has done well to elevate his floor as this season’s wore on. In total, he has a 2.80 ERA, 109 strikeouts, and 59 walks through 112 2/3 innings in what’s become a great breakout year. Next up, he’s scheduled for a two-start week against the Guardians and Phillies with both starts at home.

Ureña’s post All-Star break velocity boost has relaxed just a tad, but he’s remained very difficult to hit. He’s allowed one or no runs in five of six outings, and this is the 10th time in 20 starts this season that he’s given up three hits or fewer. He’ll take an 8-8 record and a 2.67 ERA into Houston for his next start.

Ureña pitched two quiet innings against the Marlins before completely losing it in the third. A base hit and two walks loaded the bases for Xavier Edwards, who doubled to drive in two runs. Another walk loaded the bases again before Otto Lopez drove in two more runs on a single. That would do it for Ureña, ending his day with one out in the third inning. The 22-year-old right-hander will take a 2.83 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and a 97/55 K/BB ratio across 101 2/3 innings into a start against the Rangers in Anaheim on Thursday.

Ureña was able to outduel Jacob Misiorowski, and that’s even with Misiorowski throwing seven strong innings. The 22-year-old gave up just three hits, and while he did issue three free passes, he made up for it with seven punchouts and the Brewers rarely threatened. In another lost season for the Halos, Ureña has been a significant bright spot. He’ll be back at it with a 2.54 ERA against the Marlins next weekend.

Ureña left with a 4-1 lead after striking out five and allowing just two hits, but that wasn’t sufficient tonight. That he’s pitching for such a lousy team — and one that will probably get worse before the trade deadline — is one of the things that makes it tough to bet on the 22-year-old Ureña for the short term. He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with going forward, but there’s just so little help to be had in Anaheim. He’ll likely face the Brewers on Sunday.

Ureña was brilliant on Tuesday, holding the Cardinals to one run over six innings on his way to a win. The one run came in the fifth inning on two hits and a groundout. He scattered six hits in all and one walk while striking out five batters. The 22-year-old right-hander will take a 2.78 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and an 83/47 K/BB ratio across 87 1/3 innings into a start against the Astros in Anaheim on Monday.

Detmers has been a viable fantasy option for most of the first half of the season despite winning only three games, as he registered a 4.19 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 123/35 K/BB ratio across 108 2/3 innings through his first 19 starts. He’ll be followed in the Angels’ rotation by Grayson Rodriguez and Ryan Johnson in their weekend series against the Tigers. Jose Soriano and Walbert Urena will pitch on Monday and Tuesday respectively against the Cardinals.

For the good news, Ureña gave up just one hit, zero runs, and practically no hard contact in this start. The bad news, he walked five batters and just could not figure out how to put hitters away. Strike one was hard to come by, but he often fought back to get ahead in the count before failing to execute with two strikes. It was a strange outing to say the least and disappointing to not hang on long enough for a win when his team won by 12 runs. It’s also worth mentioning that his velocity was down two ticks across the board. Hopefully some rest during the All-Star break can help him get back on track. He’ll close the first half with a 2.88 ERA, 78 strikeouts, and 46 walks across 81 1/3 innings.

Ureña gave up a leadoff double to JP Crawford in the sixth and then walked three of the remaining five hitters he faced to force in a run. Before that, he walked just one through five, though he did hit two batters. He struck out six. Ureña has shown a lot of promise at age 22, but until the Angels get their act together, he doesn’t seem like a great use of a spot in shallow leagues. That said, he’s a fair play next week in a favorable matchup in Texas against the Rangers.