Finally feeling healthy, May reaches a new career high

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LOS ANGELES -- It took only two outs for Dustin May to land in uncharted territory.

May entered Monday night's game against the Mets one-third of an inning away from tying his single-season career high in innings. He surpassed that -- and then some -- with six innings of two-run ball.

The previous high-water mark for May was 56 innings in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

To frame it another way: On the second day of June, two-thirds of an inning into a game, May had pitched deeper into a season in terms of workload than he had in parts of five previous years in the Majors. In fact, Monday marked the first time he started a big league game in June in his career (he had made at least two starts every other month of the MLB season).

The 27-year-old has lost some prime years to health issues, but he's been a relatively steady presence in the Dodgers' rotation this season. He holds a 4.09 ERA in 11 starts.

“I feel like I’m in an OK spot. There’s definitely some room to grow," May said. "But the biggest thing for me at this point, I’m healthy. I feel healthy. There’s no pain. My first time in June, so that’s exciting. Yeah, just gotta keep building off it.”

While manager Dave Roberts hasn't been surprised by what May has been able to give the Dodgers this season after a long journey back to big league action, it came as news to him that May was already at a career high in innings.

"I mean, he's worked hard to get back," Roberts said Monday. "He's been very efficient. I think that just the pitch mix has been really good. … He's strong, and so there's a lot more in there. And so not terribly surprised. But yeah, it's interesting, given his workload over the last couple of years. I just realized that this is the most he's thrown. But I feel he's in a good spot physically."

The heaviest regular-season workload of May's professional career came in 2019, when he made his big league debut. He pitched 106 2/3 innings in the Minors and 34 2/3 in the Majors. He eclipsed 130 innings in his two Minor League seasons before that year.

So the mileage on his arm is not entirely unprecedented, although the wear and tear at the big league level is a different beast. Not to mention that it's been years since May has been able to stay on the field for this long.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to actually, like, feel healthy and go pitch and compete," May said. "So just trying to remember what it felt like in 2019, when I was able to throw the full season and get all of the reps under my belt. It’s kind of hard to feel the same things, because it’s a different body. It’s a different way that I feel now than I did then."

May has also been one of the more durable arms on the Dodgers' pitching staff this year. He and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the only holdovers from the Opening Day rotation, with Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki on the injured list.

There's a lot of season left, especially for someone who hasn't thrown this many innings in several years. By drawing on his experience and having a good feel for how his body is responding now, May is taking it one step at a time.

“I feel good," May said. "I’ve been recovering very well. I’ve been doing my routine in-between starts, what I did before. It’s kind of the same as it’s always been. It’s just, I’m not in pain. That’s kind of really where I’m at.”