PHOENIX — Dustin May screamed into his cap after blowing a 95-mph fastball by Oscar Gonzalez for an inning-ending strikeout on Sunday, and when the Dodgers right-hander returned to the dugout, he was engulfed in a sea of hugs and high-fives.
It seemed like an over-the-top celebration for throwing one scoreless inning in an 8-3 exhibition victory over the San Diego Padres in Camelback Ranch, but only to those who don’t know May’s backstory, of how he underwent a second major elbow surgery in 2023 and suffered a life-threatening health scare in 2024.
“It felt amazing to be back,” May, 27, said after pitching in a competitive big league environment for the first time in 21 months. “Huge, huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. … I’m alive. I’m glad I’m here. It was just a breath of fresh air, like a new beginning.”
May last pitched in a big league game on May 17, 2023, when he was pulled after one inning against the Minnesota Twins because of a flexor pronator strain that required season-ending flexor tendon and Tommy John revision surgery.
May was one week away from a minor league rehabilitation stint last summer when he had what he called a “complete freak accident” on July 10, suffering a serious tear in his esophagus when a piece of lettuce from a salad got lodged in his throat.
May underwent emergency surgery, dashing any hopes of returning before the end of the 2024 season, and he remained hospitalized for 11 days. Had May not gone to the hospital, “I would have been six feet under that night,” he said.
May embarked on a new six-month recovery process in which he was barred from lifting any weights heavier than 10 pounds. He began throwing lightly in November and didn’t return to full strength until about Jan. 1.
May’s fastball had plenty of life in Sunday’s 15-pitch, eight-strike inning, when he gave up a leadoff single to Tyler Wade, hit Connor Joe with a pitch, got Gavin Sheets to ground into a 4-6-3 double play and whiffed Gonzalez. His heater sat between 94-95 mph, only a few ticks down from his average velocity of 97.3 mph in 2022 and 2023.
“Velo for me right now, I don’t really care about it at all,” said May, who is competing with Tony Gonsolin for the final opening-day rotation spot. “I’m just glad to be here. If it goes up, it goes up. If it stays there, I’m going to be fine. As long as I’m throwing strikes with everything, everything’s gonna be fine.”
Rehab report
Two key relievers took significant steps in their recovery from injuries over the weekend, Evan Phillips throwing off a bullpen mound — 15 fastballs — for the first time this spring on Friday and Michael Kopech throwing off the front slope of a mound on Saturday.
Neither right-hander will be ready for the March 18-19 season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, but both could be ready in early April.
“I feel fully healthy,” said Phillips, who went 5-1 with a 3.62 ERA and a team-leading 18 saves in 62 games last season. “There’s still a ways to go, and I’m focused on stacking up good days, like I have been.”
Phillips allowed three hits in 6⅔ scoreless innings of five playoff games before tearing a tendon in the back of his shoulder in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets.
He took a cortisone injection but was unable to pitch in the five-game World Series win over the Yankees. The injury was not deemed serious enough to require surgery. Phillips received a platelet-rich plasma injection and did not pick up a ball until Jan. 1.
“Pitching in the World Series would have pretty much guaranteed [rotator-cuff] surgery, and that could have been dangerous,” Phillips said. “We were looking for something miraculous [after the NLCS], and unfortunately, it didn’t go my way. But I tried to support my teammates the best I could, we came out on top, and it was a really special feeling.”
Kopech, who had a 1.13 ERA in 24 games for the Dodgers after his July 29 trade from the Chicago White Sox, battled elbow soreness throughout a postseason in which he gave up three runs in nine innings of 10 games.
But he paid a price over the winter, his elbow flaring up when he tried to resume his throwing program, and that put him on a slow track this spring.
“That was the first time I’ve pitched that late in the year, and I did not manage it very well,” Kopech said. “Adrenaline was a great mask [for the discomfort], and I went out there and competed with what I had. But when that wears off and the season ends, I didn’t feel great.
“Then with the shortened offseason, you try to get back to throwing as quickly as possible to be ready for the next season. I don’t think I gave myself enough rest. But hindsight is 20-20, right?”
Short hops
Roki Sasaki threw about 30 pitches in the facility’s indoor lab on Sunday, allowing the club to get baseline measurements on the Japanese right-hander’s delivery and pitch characteristics. Pitching coach Mark Prior said Sasaki will face the Chicago White Sox in a “hybrid B game” on Tuesday while left-hander Blake Snell starts the major league exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners. … Slugger Shohei Ohtani faced live pitching for the first time since undergoing surgery on his left shoulder last November. He saw 32 pitches, lacing several hits to the gaps and to right field, but none left the park. … Three days after Dodgers pitcher Bobby Miller took a 106-mph line drive off his forehead, Padres reliever Cole Paplham was hit on the right side of the face by a 102-mph liner off the bat of Dodgers first baseman Aaron Bracho in the ninth inning Sunday. Paplham remained conscious and alert as he was carted off the field and was taken to a hospital for X-rays.
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