Dustin May endured expected growing pains as his MLB debut was spoiled in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 5-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.
May ended each of his first two innings with a double play but then saw his pitch count begin to rise. That wasn’t aided by Tyler White’s throwing error in the second inning leading to an unearned run that gave the Padres a lead.
While it appeared he potentially wouldn’t be long for the game, May managed to find his command and become more efficient. He retired the side in order in the third and fourth innings and worked around consecutive one-out singles in the fifth.
Will Smith helped his fellow rookie by picking off Francisco Mejia from second base. May pitching into the sixth inning and facing the Padres lineup a third time through wound up spelling trouble.
After two straight singles, Eric Hosmer tied the game with a sinking line drive to right field that dropped just in front of Cody Bellinger’s diving catch attempt to tie the game. May was one out from getting through the inning, only to allow a two-run double to Josh Naylor.
As May was grinding through his debut, Padres starter Eric Lauer carried a perfect game into the fourth inning. It was broken up on Max Muncy’s one-out single, and two batters later Bellinger’s two-run home run gave the Dodgers a lead.
The home run was Bellinger’s 100th of his career, making him the fastest player in Dodgers franchise history to reach the benchmark. Mike Piazza held the previous record by reaching 100 home runs in his first career 422 games.
Lauer, who entered a lifetime 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA in five starts against the Dodgers, held them to just the two runs and three hits over six innings, while striking out six.
Pedro Baez allowed an RBI single in the seventh inning, though it ultimately proved a moot point as the Padres bullpen blanked the Dodgers with three scoreless innings of work. Justin Turner’s two-out single in the ninth was all L.A. mustered off a trio of San Diego relievers.
