Dustin May turned in his best outing of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants, 5-0, in the series opener on Friday at Oracle Park.
The right-hander threw five no-hit innings on 69 pitches, but the Dodgers went to their bullpen beginning in the sixth inning. That was due to May being on a limit of 75-80 pitches.
While it is still only May’s fifth start since returning from Tommy John surgery, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts previously said the 25-year-old was built up to 90-100 pitches.
Furthermore, the Dodgers also pushed May’s scheduled start day back two days by inserting Michael Grove into the rotation earlier in the week.
Roberts revealed after the win against the Giants that May has dealt with right arm soreness, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“He was pushed back because he just had a little soreness,” Roberts said. “We want to make sure we take care of him. Probably a little overly cautious.”
The extra rest proved to be effective for May, who was frustrated by getting “progressively worse” in his two outings against the San Diego Padres. After walking a combined eight hitters in 10 innings against the Padres, he rebounded by walking just one against the Giants.
With the five shutout innings, May also lowered his season ERA from 4.29 to 3.46 and his WHIP from 1.19 to 1.00.
Although May has dealt with some struggles since returning from his elbow reconstruction surgery, he still brings arguably the highest upside on the pitching staff with his elite stuff, so the Dodgers will hope he can stay healthy and continue to build on his outing against San Francisco.
Dodgers, Blake Treinen not concerned by shoulder soreness
Blake Treinen returned to the 15-day injured list just two games after returning from a partial tear in the capsule of his right shoulder.
Roberts indicated the latest issue was more in the lat area and Treinen confirmed his shoulder soreness is unrelated to his previous injury, saying that he occasionally dealt with it during his recovery.
Additionally, some of his shoulder soreness has already dissipated and Treinen is making progress toward facing batters.
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