Dustin May excels in return to the mound for first MLB game for Dodgers in 22 months

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LOS ANGELES — Dustin May hopped, skipped, jumped off the mound. He might as well have floated. It’s been nearly two years since the Los Angeles Dodgers starter had last pitched in a major-league game, and he bears the scars of a 22-month trek that nearly cost him his life well after it threatened his livelihood. His elbow has twice been repaired. A dinner out with his wife on July 10 nearly cost him much more, with one bad bite of lettuce forcing him into emergency surgery to repair a torn esophagus.

Now, 265 days have passed since the night that altered May’s life forever. Staring down death made Tuesday’s assignment easy, all things considered. He returned to the mound in a 3-1 win against the Atlanta Braves, hoping to do what his body has robbed him of doing for much of his big league career: pitch, and showcase some of the most dominant arsenal this sport has.

He was back.

When he froze Michael Harris II with a 96 mph sinker at the top of the zone to start the night, he slapped the outside of his glove and looked to the sky. When Austin Riley swung through strike three right afterward, a crowd aware of May’s journey began to crackle with anticipation. When a sweeper caught the outside corner for strike three to Matt Olson and May finished striking out the side, he marked his path back to the dugout with his bouncing orange curls as he flew back to the bench. He knelt in silence in the dugout, allowing the moment to wash over him. Then he smacked the wall in front of him with both hands, and went back out and pitched.

“Just kind of a release of emotions,” May said. “Just knowing that everything that I’ve been through in the last two years, it was just a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and it was like I could just kind of relax. I’ve got my footing and now we go.”

May went five innings in the Dodgers’ victory on a night when his team made history in matching the best start ever for a defending champion. He allowed just one hit, permitting just an unearned run to score. He struck out six and walked three. His fastball touched 98 mph. His sweeper spun as much as 3,500 rpm. May looked like the pitcher the Dodgers have dreamt of.

“The stuff tonight was really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Roberts greeted him in the dugout with a hug. The last time May’s outing ended in this ballpark, May 17, 2023, he did so in frustration. His elbow had hurt, as it had for his entire rehab from Tommy John surgery. His velocity was down. His flexor tendon was torn. May had no idea what his future held. He almost made it back before a freak accident seemingly threw it all into flux, and put his life at risk. The headline of a torn esophagus ending a season was jarring enough.

In his first Major League game since May 17, 2023, Dustin May strikes out the side to start the game! pic.twitter.com/wIR4sIQI8p

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 2, 2025

“One of those stories that you just make up, but it was actually true,” shortstop Mookie Betts said.

The reality was harrowing.

So May embraced being back and pitched with that perspective. Rather than hop and skip and fume over each pitch, he found a rhythm. He remains a bundle of energy. It’s just bubbling under the surface.

“I used to let my emotions kind of get the best of me,” May said. “Every pitch, everything would be super high or super low. I mean, just being able to stay a little bit more level-headed throughout life in general has been one of my biggest things in the last probably six months, just trying to live in the moment. Everything is going to be OK no matter what happens.”

When the right-hander’s night was over, Roberts said something. The two men smiled.

“I told him to enjoy this,” Roberts said.

This is a scene May has been missing. Injuries have robbed him of much of his time in Los Angeles. He’ll be a free agent at year’s end and still has logged fewer than 200 career big-league innings to his name. Innings, May said repeatedly this spring, are all he wants.

“He needs it,” Roberts said. “He needs it. Obviously, he looks great, he’s throwing the baseball well for any pitcher, but certainly a guy that has missed a lot of time. Just to be able to make consistent starts and to get some type of momentum, that’s something we really haven’t had and Dustin hasn’t had in quite some time.”

May has something new to look forward to after months of wondering when, if ever, he’d get back. He has another start to make, and a chance to build off a night he will never forget.

“It literally meant the world to me just to be back out on the mound,” May said. “About eight months ago, I didn’t know if I would be.”

(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)

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