Dustin May closed his eyes, took a breath and held his head suspended toward the heavens.
For a brief moment, shortly before he began warming up for the first inning on Tuesday night, the Dodgers' pitcher let himself absorb the significance of his milestone moment — reflecting one last time on the 685-day journey that brought him there.
“There was definitely a lot of emotions that got let out,” May said. “It was just super, super great to be back out there.”
Not since May 17, 2023, had May last stood atop the Dodger Stadium mound. That day, he suffered an elbow injury that led to a flexor tendon surgery and Tommy John revision, the second major arm procedure of his young MLB career.
During the 22 months that followed, the hard-throwing right-hander endured a rehab process of uniquely difficult circumstances, getting close to a return midway through last season before a freak accident at dinner last July forced him into emergency, and season-ending, surgery to repair a frightening esophagus tear.
Read more:One bite of salad derailed Dustin May's return to Dodgers. He's thankful to be back
As May finally worked his way back to full strength this spring, the experience gave the 27-year-old renewed perspective. He was no longer a promising young prospect. He was unable to contribute to the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series championship.
But after so much time away, and such a scary medical saga last summer, he was simply grateful to once again be back on the rubber — making his season debut, and first MLB start since in almost two years, in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.
“Even if it would have went bad, I still would have been having a good time,” May said afterward. “It literally meant the world to me just to be back out on the mound.”
Instead, May was clinical during a five-inning start on Tuesday, giving up just one unearned run to help the Dodgers — who also got a go-ahead two-run home run from Mookie Betts in the sixth inning off reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale — extend their perfect start to the season to a Los Angeles franchise record of 7-0.
In his outing, May gave up just one hit, struck out six batters and worked around three walks to escape a couple crucial jams.
Read more:Tyler Glasnow dominates as Dodgers tie franchise mark for best L.A. start
Most notably, he also displayed a calming demeanor in his return; replacing his old fiery and self-critical disposition with increased poise and, in the view of Dodgers coaches, newfound maturity.
“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,” May said. “Being able to stay a little bit more level-headed throughout life in general has been one of my biggest things in the last six months. Just trying to live in the moment. [Knowing] everything is going to be OK no matter what happens.”
May first began to change 10 months ago — when, just weeks away from a big-league return last July, he suffered his torn esophagus on a bite of a salad that got lodged in his throat.
That night, he went to the hospital and was rushed into surgery. Doctors told him that without medical intervention, “I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night.”
“I felt like I was really close. And then after the esophagus thing happened, it was just like a total reset,” May added. “Like there's nothing I can even do at the moment. … I was just trying to get healthy, get home and be able to see the next morning.”
The Dodgers were on a road trip to Philadelphia and Detroit when May went through his medical scare. And as word started spreading about what had happened, the team almost couldn’t believe the gravity of the situation.
“We have a message [chat] with medical updates, and got a thing saying, ‘Hey, he had a choking incident. He choked on some salad,’” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Huh? OK, that doesn’t sound great.’ But then we learned, ‘Oh no, it was an emergency surgery.’ We didn’t hear about that for a couple days.”
Echoed Betts: “We didn't understand what that really meant. It was hard to believe. Like one of those stories that you just make up, but it was actually true.”
When the Dodgers next saw May during a road series in Phoenix a couple months later, the pitcher was back on his feet but nowhere near playing shape.
An already lanky right-hander, he looked concerningly skinny after losing roughly 40 pounds from the liquid-only diet he was required to follow in the wake of his surgery. When coaches asked about the scar from his procedure, he lifted his shirt to show a long vertical incision running up the length of his chest.
“It almost looked like an open-heart-type surgery,” Prior said of the scar. “So to see where he’s at now, it’s pretty incredible.”
Despite not returning to full strength until around the turn of the New Year, May showed up to spring training displaying surprisingly impressive form. From the outset of camp, he emerged as a front-runner for the No. 5 spot in the team’s opening day rotation. And as he kept ramping up over the course of the preseason, the team noticed his altered approach to the game.
“To watch him mature and grow up in his own way, he’s just got a nice pro presence around him right now,” assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness said. “As scary as it was, I think it put some things in perspective for him.”
For example, rather than throwing at “full max effort all the time” to overpower hitters with upper-90s mph heat, McGuiness said, May found increased consistency by “pitching efficiently at a good effort level, without blowing it out every single throw.”
“He can tap into that bigger velo when he needs it,” McGuiness added. “But [without it], he can actually kind of move the ball around, command it a little better.”
May still walked three batters, and threw only 46 strikes in 81 pitches. But he was able to repeatedly execute in the most crucial situations, like when he stranded two aboard in the second inning after Betts’ throwing error at shortstop led to his lone unearned run, or when he got ahead of Nick Allen with two strikes in the top of the fifth to set up his sweeper for an inning-ending double-play
“It was good to see [myself] actually getting big-league hitters out,” May said. “That was the best I’ve felt mechanical-wise and stuff-wise [in a long time] tonight.”
The other big change on Tuesday was May’s in-game emotional state.
Instead of cursing and screaming every time his adrenaline surged, the now sixth-year big-leaguer kept a cooler head. After striking out the side in the first, he simply skipped his way back to the dugout. In moments of frustration, he did little more than crane his neck.
“He's out there, certainly, being grateful that he has an opportunity to pitch and be healthy,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He's not as hard on himself as I recall in years past. He just kind of gets to the next pitch a lot better.”
It was all reflective of the long road May had traveled to get back to this stage, and the adversity-hardened mindset he was forced to evolve along the way.
“I was looking for the positive side of things, even though there wasn’t really a very bright light at the end of the tunnel,” May said. “I had to scratch and claw my way out, and find my way back.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
