PHOENIX — In a game dominated by pitching, Dustin May stood toe-to-toe with one of the National League’s best—and walked away with a loss that felt more like a statement than a setback.
May gave the Dodgers six strong innings on Saturday night in Phoenix, allowing just two runs while striking out five and walking none. But with Arizona’s Corbin Burnes matching him pitch-for-pitch, the margin for error was razor-thin. One mistake proved decisive.
“Just pitch location,” May said bluntly when asked about the home run he surrendered to Eugenio Suárez. “If I execute a pitch, I think I’m maybe fine. But I definitely kept it where I shouldn’t have, and he took advantage of it.”
Despite the outcome, May looked locked in for most of the night, mixing his sweeper and sinker effectively and working with confidence. “Yeah, I felt like I was working the sinker to both sides of the plate,” he said. “I just threw two poorly executed sinkers, and they took advantage of it. That’s the big leagues—that’s what they do.”
One of those mistakes came earlier in the game when Corbin Carroll smacked a ball off the wall for a key extra-base hit. “Same thing with the Carroll at-bat,” May noted. “Right pitch, bad location.”
For May, it wasn’t a matter of mechanics or game plan—it was all about command. He knew what he wanted to do. He just missed his spots twice, and against a lineup like Arizona’s, that’s enough to make the difference.
“They’re all really good hitters, and they like to put the ball in play,” May said of the Diamondbacks. “They don’t punch out a lot, so being able to just get weak contact is how you get through them.”
The loss dropped May’s record to 1–3, but his performance underscored his growth and reliability in a rotation that continues to lean on him for stability. On most nights, this effort would have been good enough for a win. On this one, it wasn’t.
Still, if there’s anything to take away from May’s postgame demeanor, it’s that he knows he’s close to where he wants to be. The stuff is there. The rhythm is there. All that’s left is executing every pitch—not just most of them.
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