Propelled by Cody Bellinger’s walk-off home run in the ninth inning, the Los Angeles Dodgers cemented another series win on Saturday against the Colorado Rockies. They then went on to complete a sweep.
While the offense came through with timely hits on Saturday, the club was also aided by Dustin May keeping the Rockies at day. He allowed just one run on two hits in five innings of work.
On the flip side, May didn’t miss many bats, striking out just one in the outing. “There is something to his mix. The cutter promotes soft contact, the two-seamer is soft contact, and that’s what he goes to a lot,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained.
“I think with the shifting, putting the ball in play, an out is an out. Whether it’s by way of punch or soft grounder, we take outs. I think for him, just continue to get ahead of hitters and wipe them out. The punch, I still believe is in there and it will start to tick up.”
Dating back to Aug. 10, May has notched just five strikeouts in 15.1 innings (three starts). He nonetheless has been efficient over that stretch, posting a 2.94 ERA and 1.17 WHIP.
Still only in his second big league season, Roberts believes May has plenty of room to improve. “The first-pitch strikes, continue to develop the changeup, tighten up the breaking ball,” Roberts said of how May can improve.
“Obviously the velocity with the cutter and sinker is elite, but the secondaries and getting ahead, when you’re talking about left- and right-handed hitters third time through, to be a top-end guys those are (key) things. He’s only getting better.
“That’s the thing with Dustin, is he’s gotten better every turn and he can take all that in. Sky is the limit for him.”
With one-half of the regular season in the books, the Dodgers are well on their way to an eighth consecutive National League West title.
Looking ahead to the postseason, Roberts noted that May has entered the conversation to potentially earn a spot in the Dodgers starting rotation. “I know that’s on his longer view radar, and it should be,” Roberts began.
“But right now it’s kind of start to start. Dustin is doing everything he can to be in that conversation, which is a credit to him.”
May believes command is key to being effective in starts
Despite holding the Rockies to just one run and four baserunners, May wasn’t pleased with his command. “Just going in and out, being able to pitch to both sides of the plate is the biggest thing I need throughout an outing,” he said.
“I was missing a lot glove side. I was just pulling a lot of stuff. I need to get back to finishing my stuff normally and staying more behind it.”
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