Julio Urias is 5-2 with a 3.71 ERA in his first season with the Dodgers. (John McCoy/Staff photographer)

DENVER >> The Dodgers will give the ball to rookie left-hander Julio Urias for Friday’s start against the San Diego Padres.

“The way he’s throwing the baseball right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “this is the best thing for the Dodgers and for Julio.”

Urias, 20, is 5-2 with a 3.71 earned-run average in 14 games (12 starts) for the Dodgers this year. His last outings, all victories, have seen Urias allow two earned runs in 19 ⅔ innings, good for a 0.92 ERA.

And yet, Friday’s start might be his last of the season.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman stopped short of saying Urias would move to the bullpen after facing the Padres. But he acknowledged “it would be very difficult for him to start every fifth day through October” because of a season-long innings limit prescribed by the team.

Urias has pitched 108 innings between the majors and minors since the regular season began. His previous high for innings pitched in a single season was 87 ⅔, set two years ago.

If the Dodgers intend to keep Urias’ innings in the low 100s and still have him available out of the bullpen in October, the move may need to come soon.

“It’s something we’re assessing,” Friedman said. “We have a good feel for that range. A lot of it will do with how well he’s maintaining his stuff. It was important for us to get him to a certain threshold this year, just to build off of for next year. Because of the injuries, we’re getting there sooner than we’d ideally like. He’s had a big part in us being where we are right now.”

Friedman downplayed the possibility that Urias would move back into the rotation after switching to the bullpen.

As good as Urias has been the Dodgers’ rotation might be able to absorb the blow. After injuries wreaked havoc in July and August, the Dodgers could be getting a wave of reinforcements soon, including veteran left-handers Clayton Kershaw and Scott Kazmir.