ST. PETERSBURG -- Maizal is a municipal district in the Dominican Republic. Every single time Walbert Ureña has pitched this season, the town that saw him grow up gathers to watch him.
Ureña has them on his head every time he goes out on the mound, representing them with a D.R. headband under his hat, which he showed off by removing his hat after every inning he pitched in the Angels' 8-5 loss at Tropicana Field.
On Friday, the venue changed, as Ureña made his first career appearance against the Rays, but it was the same guy that Maizal saw grow up.
Against a Tampa Bay club that has the best record in the American League at 35-19, Ureña continued the strong stretch that has defined his month. The right-hander allowed one run over six innings, lowering his ERA to 2.44.
“I come from a very small town, and I am extremely proud of having been born there,” Ureña said in Spanish. “I feel all of the support that they give me every day from [my town] and my family.”
Coming into the game, Ureña had a 1.67 ERA and a .172 opponents' batting average with 23 strikeouts in five starts in May. In his two starts in April, the right-hander owned a 5.59 ERA.
What has changed for the 22-year-old is the mentality that he has carried.
“I just think [my improvement] will come with continuing to talk to the guys around me and being more patient with myself,” Ureña said. “Every day I try to be more kind to myself and be more mature, and that has given me results.”
The right-hander made his first two appearances of the season out of the bullpen after making the Opening Day roster for the first time in his career. He made his first start on April 19 against the Padres, pitching six innings with eight strikeouts and allowing two runs on four hits and two walks.
The maturity has been noticed by Angels manager Kurt Suzuki.
“Ureña has been awesome,” Suzuki said pregame. “You can see him maturing from when he got called up, was in the bullpen, and now being a starter. To see him go through the process of dealing with some failures during the game, and learning how to combat it, and keep progressing throughout the game, and not just letting it snowball.”
In the opening frame Friday, Ureña gave up a leadoff home run to Yandy Díaz on his second offering. It was the first run he had allowed in the first inning this season and the third homer he's allowed over 44 1/3 innings pitched.
That was the only run the right-hander would allow against the Tampa Bay offense.
Ureña walked three batters and retired eight on ground balls, with the Angels’ defense turning two double plays behind him.
“The defense was excellent, it all worked well, and them being behind me is something that is very important,” Ureña said.
He threw 92 pitches and used his four-seamer and changeup for most of them. His changeup averaged 91 mph, with a max of 92.8 mph and a minimum of 88.1 mph. He struck out two batters on the pitch – out of his five punchouts – generating a 55 percent whiff rate. His four-seamer topped out at 99.2 mph.
“I [felt] great, a couple runners on base and [I just tried to] stay calm, make my pitches, and then nothing happened,” Ureña said. “In the first I gave up that home run, and after that I just kept trying to keep attacking and it worked.”
Ureña has thrown his changeup 35.8 percent of the time this year, holding opponents to a .136 batting average and a .221 wOBA (weighted on-base average) against the pitch.
“I thought [Ureña] pitched unbelievable,” Suzuki said. “The composure that he [had] when he got into jams, got himself out of them. Big pitches, execution, that's the kind of stuff that we were talking about earlier in the game, and you know he showed it tonight, that his maturity, his growth, it was fun to watch him pitch tonight.”
Following Ureña’s fourth career quality start, what stands out to his batterymate, Logan O'Hoppe, is what he has done outside of the game. His efforts have shown O'Hoppe that Ureña is equipped to handle any situation.
“He taught himself English for starters, and that just shows you the kind of guy he is,” O'Hoppe said. “He cares, keeps his emotions in check, and he goes about his work in a professional way, so we love having him. I love catching him, and can't say enough good things about him.”