Dustin May has been fantastic to open the spring, with his outing today possibly being his best so far.

May threw four shutout innings, with two hits and a walk being the only baserunners. He struck out seven as the movement on his pitches was fantastic.

After his outing today, May has totaled a 1.04 ERA across his first three spring appearances. Additionally, he’s struck out 13 in his 8 2/3 innings of work, which translates to 13.50 K/9.

Finishing batters and generating swings and misses has been one of the keys to May’s young career. His best stretch of performances came before tearing his UCL and subsequently undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021. In his first five starts of that season, May posted a 13.70 K/9 clip that produced a 2.74 ERA. The then 23-year-old looked like he would be a Cy Young candidate.

Coming back late in 2022 after rehabbing for most of the year, he struggled to find the same strikeout rate. He made six starts, striking out less than a batter per inning and posting a lackluster 4.50 ERA.

If May has found his strikeout stuff that he had in 2021 once again this spring, he could be in for a huge year.

“I would say right now is probably the closest that I’ve been to pre-surgery feel,” May said in his postgame scrum.

The Dodgers homered three times in their game with the Reds. The long balls came courtesy of prospects Jonny DeLuca, Michael Busch and Ryan Ward, all hitting their first of the spring. The Dodgers tallied 15 hits and eight runs in total in the victory.

Outfield prospect Damon Keith doubled and walked in his two plate appearances. After getting a hit in his only at-bat yesterday, Keith now sports a 1.000 OBP through his first two big-league spring games.

Phil Bickford and Victor González each threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Tomorrow, the Dodgers host the Guardians with Michael Grove scheduled to start.

World Baseball Classic

Freddie Freeman played his first game of this year’s WBC and led Canada to a mercy rule win over Trayce Thompson’s Great Britain squad. Freeman went 2-5 with a walk and an RBI, scoring all three times he reached base. Thompson was 1-3 with an RBI single and a walk.

Mookie Betts and Will Smith represented the United States against Austin Barnes and Mexico. Betts went 0-5, but Smith was 1-4 with a homer. Barnes was 1-4 with a walk in Mexico’s 11-5 victory over the United States.

Finally, David Peralta did well again in Venezuela’s win over former Dodger Enrique Hernández and Puerto Rico. He went 1-3 with two walks and an RBI.