ANAHEIM -- Walbert Urena wasn’t even supposed to start on Sunday, but the right-hander certainly made the most of his first career big league start on short notice against the Padres.
Urena, ranked as the club’s No. 18 prospect by MLB Pipeline, made a spot start with Reid Detmers and Jack Kochanowicz each pushed back a day to get extra rest after heavy workloads at Yankee Stadium. He showed off electric stuff, striking out eight and allowing two runs over six-plus innings in a 2-1 loss in the series finale at Angel Stadium.
“I felt pretty good,” Urena said. “Emotional. That was incredible for me.”
The 22-year-old became just the fourth Angels pitcher with at least eight strikeouts in his first career start, joining Davis Daniel (June 27, 2024 vs. Detroit) Rudy May (April 18, 1965 vs. Detroit) and Bob Lee (April 25, 1964 vs. Cleveland). He impressed manager Kurt Suzuki in the process, although the Angels haven’t decided whether he’ll get another start just yet.
“He was awesome,” Suzuki said. “His fastball command, he was attacking the zone. The changeup was really good, mixed in some breaking balls, but for the most part he was just attacking them, making them swing the bat, and if he's in the zone I think he’s going to be tough to hit.”
Urena first turned heads this spring and surprisingly made the Opening Day roster as a reliever because of his plus stuff. But he had trouble harnessing it in his first two career outings, allowing six unearned runs in 1 2/3 innings with three walks before being optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake on March 29.
He resumed starting in the Minors, allowing six runs in 8 1/3 innings over two starts, before getting called back up to join the bullpen in long relief on Saturday after having not pitched since April 8. And although the results weren’t great, he believes getting back into the routine of a starter helped him prepare for Sunday.
“I’d never been a reliever, so that was new for me,” Urena said. “I tried to get my routine as a reliever, but when I got back to Salt Lake, I started getting starts again. So, I think that's my best thing, starting.”
Urena looked fresh after the lengthy layoff with his sinker averaging 98 mph, his four-seamer averaging 98.7 mph and his changeup averaging 91.1 mph, although his velocity did dip as he pitched deeper into the game. His changeup was his go-to pitch and his best one, as he registered six of his 13 swings and misses with it.
“I tried to keep doing what I’ve been doing the last couple months,” Urena said. “I think the changeup is my second-best pitch, so I just tried to throw there and see what we got.”
He looked dominant early, retiring the first eight batters he faced before surrendering a two-out double to Bryce Johnson in the third. But he got out of the jam by striking out Ramón Laureano with a 99.2 mph four-seam fastball.
In the fourth, he gave up his first run after giving up a leadoff single to Fernando Tatis Jr., who stole second base and later scored on a two-out single from Xander Bogaerts. Urena, though, limited the damage after a two-out single from Gavin Sheets by getting Miguel Andujar to ground out to end the inning.
Urena went back out for the seventh inning at 83 pitches, but the decision didn’t work out. He promptly walked Bogaerts and Sheets for his first two walks of the afternoon and was lifted in favor of reliever Sam Bachman. Bachman allowed an inherited run to score on an RBI single from Johnson with two outs.
The decision to leave Urena in proved costly with that extra run scoring, as the Angels had two runners in scoring position in the seventh with the top of the order up but could only score one run on an RBI groundout from Zach Neto.
Urena admitted he felt tired in the seventh, but Suzuki thought he looked good enough to stay in there.
“We felt like he was throwing the ball really well,” Suzuki said. “Me and [pitching coach Mike] Maddux were talking about it and, down by one, see if he can get us one more inning. We liked the way he was throwing it. He said he was feeling good. He was built up. He threw [87] pitches his last start and we liked the way he was throwing.”