Dustin May Takes Another Hard Hit, but Rallies for First Cardinals Win

· Yahoo Sports

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol discusses Dustin May’s strong start on Friday night in the 3-2 defeat of the Boston Red Sox.

ST. LOUIS – For a second straight start, Cardinals’ right-hander Dustin May had a hot smash back up the middle hit off of him early in the night, but he was able to tough it out and stay in the game.

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Fortunately for the Cardinals and May, the 101.8 mph shot off his right hand in Friday’s second inning was the only thing that was similar to the early-season games where he mostly struggled while surrendering 13 earned runs in 7 1/3 innings of work.

May, who left the Red Sox to sign a one-year, $12 million free-agent contract with the Cardinals in December, allowed just four hits and one earned run over six innings of work to lift St. Louis to a 3-2 defeat of Boston at Busch Stadium on Friday.

“I needed it bad because I’ve definitely been scrambling and trying to figure some stuff out,” said May, who snapped a five-game losing streak dating back to 2025 when he struggled with the Red Sox after being traded from the Dodgers. “Having those two outings in a row was definitely not goo d for the thought process, but I’m definitely happy to have a good one.”

May, who is fully healthy for the first time since 2023, came into Friday looking to get his career with the Cards on track. In his first start of the season, May was rocked for 10 hits and six earned runs over four-plus innings of work by the Rays on March 29. Last week in Detroit, when May took a 105.9 mph grounder off the outside of his right ankle, the Tigers also hammered him for seven hits and seven earned runs over 3 1/3 innings of work.

May’s big change on Friday was leaning more on his sinker as opposed to a four-seam fastball that sat in MLB’s 78th percentile in average velocity (96.5 mph) in his first two starts. On Friday, May threw more sinkers (25) than he did four-seam fastballs (21) – something that was a departure from the 31 percent four-seamers and 14 percent sinkers he had thrown over his first two starts.

“I just feel like (the sinker) was a good pitch for this lineup,” said May, who notched his 20th career MLB victory in his 60th career start. “It’s not always going to be that way when stuff goes good and it’s not always going to be that way when stuff goes bad. I just think it was a good combo for this lineup.”

Fermin, Saggese provide big hits

May got just enough offense for the Cardinals to win their MLB-leading sixth comeback victory of the season. Jose Fermin got a rare start and had a key hit in the second inning to advance Ramon Urias, who had opened the frame with a double. Victor Scott II, who continues to show progress against left-handed pitching, plated Urias with a sacrifice fly to left field.

The Cards took the lead with two runs in the fifth when Jordan Walker (single) and Uras (walk) reached ahead of injury replacement Thomas Saggese, who lined a single into left to score Walker. Then, after a wild pitch moved Uras and Saggese up, Fermin did his job by hitting the ball deep enough to score what proved to be the winning run.      

“I’m just trying to slow the game down, get a good pitch to get the ball in the air and bring that run in,” said Fermin, who was 1 for 3 with an RBI after getting the start with lefty Connelly Early opening for the Red Sox. “I just worked the at bat and ended up getting a good pitch and got my job done.”

Saggese, who was celebrating his 24th birthday, came into the game, in the fourth after Gold Glove shortstop was hit on the fibula by a wayward fastball from Early. Winn is hopeful that he will be able to play through the contusion and start on Saturday.

May, who finally had something to feel good about on Friday, thinks the Cardinals might have something special brewing with their young and scrappy lineup.

“I love coming in this clubhouse every day and we have a great time,” said May, who needed just five pitches to get through the fifth inning. “Everybody in here wants to win and we’re never out of it.”

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