Dustin May took the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers a changed man.
Making his first major league start since May 17, 2023, he allowed just one hit and an unearned run over five innings in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night. He struck out six and walked three.
“Even if it would have went bad I still would have been having a good time just being back on a big league mound,” May said. “It literally meant the world to me just to be back on the mound because eight months ago I didn’t know if I would be.”
May spent all of last season rehabbing from a torn flexor tendon in his right arm and a life-threatening esophageal tear after eating a salad at dinner with his wife in Arizona. A piece of lettuce got caught in his throat and May sipped some water trying to clear it.
He felt a painful sensation in his throat and stomach, and later learned the lettuce had perforated his esophageal tube.
“It’s kind of one of those stories you just make up but it was actually true,” teammate Mookie Betts said. “God was just working his magic.”
May underwent emergency surgery that same night, with doctors later telling him he had sought medical attention just in time.
“After the esophagus thing happened it was like a total reset,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do at the moment, so playing baseball was at the very back of my mind. I was just trying to get healthy, get home and be able to see the next morning.”
The 6-foot-6 right-hander nicknamed Big Red closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the darkening sky before warming up Tuesday.
“I was thanking the Lord for the opportunity to be back,” he said. “There’s been a lot of praying and a lot of devotion to him in the last two years of my life and I attribute all of my success to him.”
May’s first pitch was a 96 mph sinker to Braves leadoff hitter Michael Harris II for a strike. He again leaned his head back and looked skyward. Harris struck out looking.
Up came Austin Riley, who went down swinging on five pitches. Matt Olson was next and he took a called third strike. May skipped off the mound and was greeted with high-fives from his teammates in the dugout.
“It means the world knowing that my stuff still plays,” he said. “It was good to actually get big league hitters out in a big league game.”
The noisy crowd of 50,182 welcomed him back.
“That felt great,” he said.
May appeared to induce an inning-ending double play with two on in the second, but Betts bobbled the ball and threw it away at first to let a run score. It was Betts’ first error at shortstop this season.
“I didn’t get a good grip on it,” Betts said. “Just a dumb play.”
May’s emotions used to run as hot as his flowing red hair when he first came up to the majors.
“Every pitch everything would be super high or super low,” he said.
Cheating death calmed him down.
“Just being able to stay a little bit more level-headed throughout life in general has been one of my biggest things probably in the last six months,” he said.
In 2023, May was 4-1 in nine starts with a 2.63 ERA, 34 strikeouts and 16 walks before having Tommy John revision surgery.
Little did he know that would be the least of his troubles. And never did he think eating a salad would threaten his life.
“There wasn’t really a very bright light at the end of the tunnel at the time,” he said. “I had to scratch and claw my way out and find my way back.”
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