Julio Urias comes to the rescue for the Dodgers

There might come a season, perhaps soon, when the Dodgers put Julio Urias in the starting rotation and leave him there for the entire season.

The Dodgers had scripted this season for their phenom, but the plans were ruined and the team’s hand was forced by an injury-ravaged pitching staff. So there was Urias, the star of the future but the long reliever of the present, warming up in the second inning Saturday and entering the game in the third inning.

He was the winning pitcher Saturday in the Dodgers’ 8-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings and striking out three. He batted twice, delivering a single the first time and a squeeze bunt the second time.

“You’re talking about the player of the game,” Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said.

Urias, who turned 20 on Friday, has totaled 96 innings this season, eight more than his previous career high. The Dodgers are expected to allow him no more than about 120 innings this season, then increase his workload to about 150 innings next season.

Reinforcements in arms

The Dodgers plan to activate Brett Anderson, Rich Hill and Bud Norris within the coming week, and they might need them all to fill an injury-ravaged starting rotation.

Anderson, out all season after back surgery, is scheduled to make his season debut Sunday. Hill, on the disabled list because of blisters on the middle finger of his pitching hand, is slated for a rehabilitation start Monday for triple-A Oklahoma City and is expected to start for the Dodgers on Aug. 20 in Cincinnati.

Norris, on the disabled list because of a back strain, started in a minor league rehabilitation assignment Saturday night for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga.

The Dodgers had hoped to use Hill and Anderson behind Kenta Maeda, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy in the starting rotation, but McCarthy left Saturday’s game because of injury and said he expected to go on the disabled list. Roberts said Maeda and Kazmir would start in Philadelphia on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, but would not announce the team’s pitching plans beyond then.

Hill, the top pitcher acquired at the trade deadline, has not pitched since July 17 and has not recorded an out since July 7. He initially was reluctant to make a rehabilitation start but has agreed to do so.

“For any pitcher to be out that long against major league competition, it only makes sense,” Roberts said. “With where we’re at, we need him to pitch for us, but we also need him to be good.”

Hill said he did not feel any guilt or frustration over an injury that lingered beyond what he and the Dodgers anticipated.

“It’s out of my control,” Hill said. “I can’t do anything about it. I’ve done everything I can to get on this and get ready. We’re here now.”

Roberts said rookie Ross Stripling, who started Friday, would join Urias as a long reliever. Roberts also said he expected left-handed reliever Adam Liberatore (elbow inflammation) would make one minor league rehabilitation appearance Sunday and then rejoin the Dodgers.

In addition, Roberts said he expected right-handed reliever Louis Coleman (shoulder fatigue) to rejoin the bullpen Sept. 1 and left-hander Alex Wood (elbow surgery) to return as a reliever in mid-September.

Counting bases

Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson was a triple shy of the cycle in his final at-bat, but he said he did not try to hit a triple. In the fifth inning, he doubled and took third base on an error, but he said he was not aware of how the play had been scored.

“I didn’t know if I hit a triple or a double my first time up,” Pederson said. “I really didn’t know what I needed.”

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Twitter: @BillShaikin