LOS ANGELES _ Nothing was unusual when Julio Urias took the mound Tuesday night. He jogged out as Vicente Fernandez's "Mexico Lindo y Querido" filled Dodger Stadium, grabbed a baseball, and began firing his warm-up pitches before facing the Colorado Rockies. The crowd was indifferent to his emergence.
If fans had strong opinions, one way or the other, about Urias' return from serving a 20-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy, they kept it to themselves. The reaction was mum.
Urias proceeded to deliver another sharp performance. He went as long he was scheduled to pitch _ three innings _ in his seventh start of the season, first since July 30, and first appearance since Aug. 16. He limited the Rockies to one run on two hits. It took longer than expected, but the Dodgers' offense finally erupted late behind its three oldest members to supply the firepower in a 5-3 win.
After scoring 16 runs in each of their previous two games, the Dodgers (91-50) couldn't figure out Chi Chi Gonzalez for six innings. The Rockies right-hander, who began the night with an 8.07 earned-run average, held Los Angeles to two singles and two walks until the seventh when he faltered.
Cody Bellinger worked a leadoff walk in to ignite the Dodgers' surge. Two batters later, Matt Beaty cracked one of the Dodgers' few hard-hit balls off Gonzalez for a single on his 101st pitch. It was the first time Gonzalez crossed the triple-digit threshold this season. His night ended there with one out and runners on first and second. High-fives awaited Gonzalez in the Rockies' dugout as Bryan Shaw jogged in to pitch. The vibe flipped immediately.
Shaw got Enrique Hernandez to line out and was one strike away from escaping when he threw a cutter to Russell Martin over the inner half of the plate. The 36-year-old Martin pounced and smacked it over the left-field wall for a go-ahead, three-run home run.
Fellow 36-year-old David Freese, pinch-hitting in the pitcher's spot, followed with a solo home run the other way to double the Dodgers' lead. Justin Turner, the club's third-oldest position player at a spry 34, padded the margin with a solo home run in the eighth. The blast gave Turner 27 home runs, tying his career high set in 2016.
The Rockies (59-81) made Kenley Jansen work for his 28th save. The Dodgers' closer walked Ryan McMahon, surrendered a double to Yonder Alonso and allowed an RBI groundout to Tony Wolters before securing the final out. With the victory, the Dodgers knocked the magic number to win the National League West title down to five. The earliest they can clinch their seventh straight division crown is Saturday.
Urias isn't scheduled to make another appearance during the Dodgers' homestand, which concludes Sunday. His next outing likely will be on the road, in Baltimore.
Urias' suspension, which stemmed from a May 13 incident at the Beverly Center, included the five games he missed while on administrative leave in the week following his arrest, leaving 15 games for him to sit. The 23-year-old left-hander reported to the Dodgers' spring training facility in Arizona. There, he threw bullpen sessions and faced hitters. He was sent to start a game for single-A Rancho Cucamonga before coming off the restricted list Monday.
"It's great to have Julio back," manager Dave Roberts said Monday. "Going through the suspension and learning from his mistakes, he's definitely learned from it. On the off-field stuff he's very contrite, on the on-field, he's done a great job keeping his body, his mind focused on playing, and I know he's excited to be back here with his teammates and helping us win games."
Daniel Murphy lofted a fly ball just over the center-field wall to lead off the second inning for the Rockies' run against Urias. He allowed a two-out double to Garrett Hampson later in the frame and retired the other nine hitters he faced. He touched 97 mph, struck out three and threw 44 pitches.
It was a strong performance as the Dodgers proceed unsure how they will use Urias in the postseason. Roberts said Urias will stay in the starting rotation for at least another turn, ideally building up to four innings and 60 pitches. What happens after that depends on a variety of factors.
Other candidates for the fourth spot in the playoff rotation include Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Rich Hill, who is nearing a return from his forearm strain. On the injured list since June, Hill believes he will have enough time to build up to start games in October. Any kind of setback, however, could jeopardize the objective.
The Dodgers view Urias as a starter in the long term, but he was effective as a reliever in the postseason last October, and the numbers say he's been better out of the bullpen than as a starter this year.
In 21 relief appearances, he's posted a 1.91 ERA across 421/3 innings. He has a 3.49 ERA in 281/3 innings as a starter.
