Dustin May labored through his worst start since returning from Tommy John surgery and it resulted in the Los Angeles Dodgers suffering a 7-1 loss to the San Diego Padres in the opener of a six-game homestand. The three-game losing streak is the Dodgers’ first since June 10-12, when they were swept by the San Francisco Giants.
May initially worked around his command struggles as he stranded back-to-back walks in the first inning, and another free pass in the second. However, that caught up to him in the third inning as a Juan Soto walk was followed by a home run from Manny Machado.
Machado’s two-run blast was the Padres’ first hit of the game and gave them a 2-0 lead. May later hit Jake Cronenworth with two outs in the inning and compounded it by surrendering a homer to Brandon Drury.
May ran into more trouble when hit Drury to start the sixth inning and walked Trent Grisham, to mark the end of his night. Heath Hembree nearly stranded both inherited runners but back-to-back strikeouts were followed by Jurickson Profar breaking the game open with a three-run home run.
May was charged with season-high six runs over five-plus innings, and his five walks set a career high.
At the plate, the Dodgers failed to generate much against Yu Darvish. He threw 111 pitches over seven shutout innings, with only Max Muncy and Justin Turner managing to get a hit off their former teammate. Darvish additionally issued two walks and hit two batters as well.
One of those was plunking Will Smith in the bottom half of the same inning that May hit Drury in the head. Umpires gathered in front of home plate after Darvish hit Smith and issued warnings to both dugouts. The game finished without issue from that point forward.
Turner’s second double of the game led to the Dodgers avoiding a shutout, when Joey Gallo followed with an RBI single in the ninth inning.
Dodgers get rest for Betts, Turner and Freeman
Trea Turner was out of the Dodgers lineup for the first time this season as manager Dave Roberts bought him a night of rest. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman also got off their feet early by being removed in the seventh inning.
Roberts had previously indicated Turner and Freeman would continue starting every game until the Dodgers clinched the National League West.
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