May encounters first rough going on road back

LOS ANGELES -- As Dustin May continues to build himself up in his return from Tommy John surgery, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if there are some hiccups in the process. After two strong starts, May had one Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

In a 7-1 series-opening loss to the Padres, May recorded career highs in earned runs (six), walks (five) and hit-by-pitches (two), while tying a career high with two home runs allowed.

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“Certainly, with Dustin, the stuff is there,” said manager Dave Roberts. “But if you're not commanding it, then guys can time velocity. And there were some good breaking balls in there, but there were a lot of misfires with all of his pitches.”

Several of those misfires came in the third inning, when May gave up the pair of home runs. Both came after May allowed free baserunners, and both came on sinkers that did not sink enough.

Following a full-count walk to Juan Soto, Manny Machado mashed a ball into the left-center-field bleachers. May struck out Josh Bell on three pitches before hitting Jake Cronenworth on the back leg with a 92.8 mph cutter. The next batter, Brandon Drury, got hold of a sinker in about the same location as the one Machado hit out, and he drove it to about the same spot in the stands as Machado’s home run.

The sinker is normally a devastating tool for May. The right-hander disagreed when it was suggested that those sinkers had less vertical movement than usual.

“They just guessed right,” May said.

The fourth and fifth innings went more smoothly, but May ran into trouble again in the sixth, starting with a scary moment when he hit Drury in the chin flap with a curveball. Drury took his base, though he later left for a defensive replacement due to a head contusion and is considered day to day.

May followed that up by walking Trent Grisham, which brought an end to his night. He threw 87 pitches, 53 for strikes (or 60.1%, compared to 66.2% in his first two starts combined).

The two runners then came in to score when reliever Heath Hembree gave up a three-run home run to Jurickson Profar, putting the Dodgers into the kind of deficit they have not seen many times in 2022. The loss marked the first time they’ve been defeated by a margin of more than five runs not just this season, but in 228 consecutive regular-season games, according to Stats by STATS.

“Keep moving forward,” said May. “There’s nothing else you can do.”

When May was first activated from the injured list, there was a lot of talk about the pressure he might feel to carry the team in some way. Repeatedly, the Dodgers emphasized that while May is an important part of their postseason plans, he alone isn’t being expected to be the team’s savior.

However, recent events have made the Dodgers’ need for an effective May more crucial than ever. Besides losing Walker Buehler to Tommy John surgery, Los Angeles is currently without Tony Gonsolin, who landed on the IL with a right forearm strain on Aug. 29 (retroactive to Aug. 26). Though an MRI on Friday came out, according to Roberts, “as good as we could have hoped,” there remains uncertainty about how long Gonsolin will be out and how he’ll pitch when he comes back.

While Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney are active at the moment, both have missed considerable time with injuries of their own -- pelvic and back injuries for Kershaw, left shoulder issues for Heaney.

So for the Dodgers to be in a truly comfortable spot come October, they’re going to need May to look more like the guy he was in his first two games back. They’re hopeful his outing Friday will simply be the kind of blip that comes with returning to a Major League mound after nearly a year and a half away, and that it will give him something to build off of going forward.

“It's a good lesson,” Roberts said. “He's going to see these guys again, I think his next turn. So when you're facing good hitters up and down the lineup, you’ve got to sequence well and you’ve got to command the baseball.”