LOS ANGELES _ Julio Urias became the youngest starting pitcher to take the mound in a postseason game Wednesday night in the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium.
But a Cubs youngster made sure the night didn't belong to the 20-year-old Urias.
Addison Russell, 22, hit a two-run homer in a four-run fourth inning that drove Urias from the game. Urias was charged with four earned runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.
At 20 years, 68 days, Urias overtook Bret Saberhagen as the youngest postseason starter. Saberhagen was 20 years, 175 days when he pitched for the Royals in the 1984 American League Championship Series against the Tigers.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game he didn't think he needed to have a conversation with Urias to remind him how to handle himself.
"I expect him to go out there, prepare like he has been and pitch the way that he has," Roberts said. "Regardless of the stage, I expect Julio to be Julio."
Urias worked out of a tight spot in the second after Javier Baez walked and Willson Contreras reached on an error when Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley dropped a barehanded catch on a feed from Corey Seager. Urias struck out Jason Heyward and prompted Russell to fly out to the warning track in left field.
But he found himself in a worse spot in the fourth.
Two of Urias' previous three outings came in long relief as the Dodgers watch his innings workload in his first year, and he hadn't thrown more than 58 pitches in a major-league game since Sept. 13.
He was nearing that total in the fourth when Ben Zobrist, Baez and Contreras hit three straight singles to halt the Cubs' scoreless streak at 21 innings. After a throwing error by left fielder Andrew Toles and another run on a Heyward groundout, Russell hit Urias' 94-mph fastball on a 2-0 count over the wall in right-center field.
Urias had faced the Cubs twice this season, the first in just his second major-league start June 2. He gave up six runs in five innings in that outing, but his second start against the Cubs was markedly better, when he held them to one run in six innings.
"I've seen them twice, and that really helps," Urias said Tuesday. "It makes me a lot more comfortable, especially being that the second time was here at home. I go in with that mentality and try to give the best."
