Dustin May impressed in his second MLB start but was outdueled by Burbank, Calif., native Jack Flaherty, but the Los Angeles Dodgers completed yet another walk-off win, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1, on Russell Martin’s game-winning single to score two.
May allowed one runner to reach in both the first and second innings, and stranded a pair of two-out singles in the fourth to keep the game locked in a scoreless tie. May also worked around Dexter Fowler’s two-out double in the fifth inning but a failure to put Marcell Ozuna away in the sixth cost him.
After the Cardinals outfielder fouled off multiple pitches behind home plate, Ozuna connected on a line drive out to center field for a solo home run. May retired Paul De Jong before giving way to Adam Kolarek.
He exited with just the one run allowed over 5.2 innings, and seven strikeouts against one walk. May is expected to make a third start due to Ross Stripling suffering a setback in his recovery from neck trouble/right biceps tendinitis.
His effort was bested by Flaherty, who had 10 strikeouts over seven innings while allowing four hits and one walk. The Dodgers managed to make some hard contact, namely on Joc Pederson’s double in the third inning and Edwin Rios’ extra-base hit in the fifth.
In both cases the ball hit off the top of the wall and somewhat surprisingly didn’t carry enough for a home run considering the daytime temperature at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers’ best opportunity to take a lead came in the bottom of the sixth when Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back singles with two outs. Corey Seager’s aggressive approach backfired, as he grounded out harmlessly on the first pitch.
When Pederson singled with one out in the eighth, he was stranded by Max Muncy and Turner. Andrew Miller hit Corey Seager with a pitch to put the tying run on the bottom of the ninth, which led to Carlos Martinez entering to close out the game.
Will Smith continued hit late-game production, singling off Martinez and then a wild pitch set the stage for Martin’s game-winner.
