Julio Urias' first start for LA Dodgers ends with walkoff win for New York Mets

NEW YORK >> In the best of times, sports allow us to dream about extraordinary things.

Take Friday. Carlos Urias flew with his family from Mexico to New York City to see his 19-year-old son Julio make his major league debut. Juan Castro, a coach for the Dodgers, got a call from his own father in Sinaloa on Friday moing asking about the teenage phenom. Broadcasters and even teammates posed for pictures with Urias in the Dodgers’ clubhouse at Citi Field — behavior usually reserved for, well, no one. This was something extraordinary.

Only 16 pitchers since 1914 have won their first major league start before their 20th birthday. It’s a list that includes Hall of Famers like Babe Ruth and Bert Blyleven, early retirees like David Clyde and Josh Billings, and no one since Dwight Gooden in 1984.

It does not include Urias, who was knocked out in the third iing of the Dodgers’ 6-5 loss to the New York Mets.

The dream is far from over for Urias, who tus 20 in August. He struggled when he reached Triple-A last year, then threw 27 consecutive scoreless iings this year. He struggled briefly at Double-A in 2014, then moved up a level after only six games.

In that regard, his final line Friday — 2 2/3 iings, five hits, three runs, four walks, three strikeouts — was nothing new.

Then again, Urias had never experienced a day like Friday, begiing with a gaggle of autograph seekers at the Dodgers’ team hotel and ending with the cacophony of a sold-out crowd of 43,462 at Citi Field. Urias seemed perfectly adjusted to the bright periphery, however. Dan Bellino’s strike zone was a surprise nemesis.

Urias threw a first-pitch strike to four of the 17 batters he faced. With the count in the hitters’ favor so often, Urias allowed two doubles, two singles, walked a batter and threw a wild pitch -- and that was just the first iing. Before Eric Campbell lined out to end the iing, the Mets had a 3-0 lead and Chris Hatcher was warming up in the Dodgers’ bullpen.

The second iing passed quickly for the Mets. Urias retired the first two men he faced in the third iing, but loaded the bases on a single and two walks. That’s when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided he’d seen enough. Urias threw 81 pitches, one below his season high.

The Mets tacked on single runs against the Dodgers bullpen in the fourth and fifth iings, only to see the Dodgers rally from a 5-1 deficit against closer Jeurys Familia in the ninth.

Chase Utley’s bases-clearing double tied the game 5-5. Utley went 1 for 2 with a pair of walks in his first game at Citi Field since his infamous slide in last year’s National League Division Series that broke the leg of then-Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada.

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Pedro Baez pitched the bottom of the ninth iing and faced one batter, Curtis Granderson. The veteran outfielder fouled off the first pitch he saw and hit the second for a home run into the right-field bleachers.