Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — You hate to see it. A young pitcher coming back from injury absolutely shoves for seven innings, and then comes away with nothing. But unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to the Dodgers’ Dustin May on Friday night. Though May pitched shutout ball for those seven innings, the Dodgers couldn’t get anything going against D-back starter Merrill Kelly and the Arizona bullpen, eventually losing to the Snakes 2-1.
The team briefly took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh on a Mookie Betts solo shot (his first hit of the season), but they only saw the lead evaporate when Alex Vesia gave up a go-ahead two-run homer to new D-back Kyle Lewis in the 8th. The Dodgers threatened in the 9th, but didn’t score, handing the team the first loss of the year.
However, let’s focus on the positive. Yes, the offense forgot to show up, but Dustin May was spectacular. Working efficiently, May had a lot of 1-2-3 quick innings, which allowed manager Dave Roberts to extend him all the way into the seventh, something that the young righty has never done before.
“I think he’s better than before,” Roberts said after the game. “And I say that because going through that rehab process, there’s some maturity that needs to happen and I think that’s one component. And I think the delivery is as consistent as I’ve ever seen. For me, he’s a better Major League pitcher than he was, call it, 18 or 19 months ago.”
May concurred with this assessment. “It was very encouraging,” May said of his start. “That was a big thing for me this Spring Training, just coming out of it healthy. I feel good right now and I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
So, yes it was a loss. But big picture, it was a good night at Dodger Stadium. And I’ll take it.
Short Hops
- The Dodgers scorched some balls on Friday, but they just couldn’t get hits to fall.
- Lots of traffic, not so much hitting with RISP: 0-for-7 in that stat.
- Evan Phillips made his debut cleaning up for Vesia in the 8th. He threw a grand total of one pitch to retire the side.
- Caleb Ferguson looked decent pitching a scoreless 9th.
- Saturday is Kershaw Day! Clayton takes the mound against our old buddy Madison Bumgarner at 6:10 pm.
