Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishLOS ANGELES — Last July, when he first thought his journey back to the mound was near its end, Dustin May thought he found it. He’d been fiddling with his breaking ball for years, a tornado of a pitch that spun more than just about any in the sport and whose movement profile was so vast that no one knew what to call it. It was officially labeled a curveball. His coaches called it a slider. More than anything, you could call it effective.This was the pitch May hoped would give him a foothold, even with a twice-repaired elbow. Now, it was back and potentially better than ever after finding a new mental cue when he delivered it. Then came the night that changed his life forever and put his career on ice again.May’s return to a big league mound after 22 months is a compelling one amid the frenzy that is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Each start he’s made since has been building a resume after years cut short by injury. More than just a feel-good story, May has said, he just wants to pitch. He’s important for the Dodgers, both in the short term as they wait for reinforcements, but also for when the nights get more important than a cold night in April, where the Dodgers collected a 5-3 win against the Colorado Rockies.He’s not the same pitcher he was before. Maybe he’s even better.The key comes with that breaking ball. Statcast calls it a sweeper now. Whatever you want to call it, May had it on Monday night, when he overwhelmed a paltry Rockies lineup over six innings. He toyed with them, using the pitch early in counts to steal strikes, then burying some in the dirt. He’d break into left-handed hitters’ hands to keep them off the inner half of the plate, like he did to strike out Ryan McMahon to end the first inning. Then he’d snap one off that broke and caught the outside corner, like he did to Zac Veen in the third.When a two-strike backdoor breaking ball missed the plate by an inch to Michael Toglia in the fourth inning, May bounced on his toes from the mound. Then he fired another one that broke towards the left-handed batter’s hip. Toglia waved right over it.“He’s always kind of been an east-west guy, but now to work the front-back, he’s just more of a dynamic pitcher now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.May threw 28 sweepers on the night. Nearly half of them either resulted in a called strike or a swing-and-miss. He’d finish the night with seven strikeouts. Five came on the breaking ball.
That Dustin May movement. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/rVkevWrYKn
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 15, 2025It’s a devastating weapon. May’s fastball has not quite ticked back up to the triple-digit velocity it was before he underwent Tommy John surgery, then a Tommy John revision and a flexor tendon repair that cost him most of three seasons. But it still has wicked tailing movement. Pair it with this version of a breaking ball, and it’s the kind of mirrored movement profile that can bend opposing lineups to his will.“Being able to strike the breaking ball and then use the sinker off of it was huge, and being able to command both of them was big tonight,” May said.Monday, May kept the Rockies without a hit until the fourth. He’d only allow one run, a sharp Kyle Farmer grounder that hugged the third-base line and scored a runner from first base. He completed six innings and could have gone further, needing a tidy 76 pitches to complete his night’s work. He did not attempt to overpower his opposition with a diet of fastballs, like a younger version of himself would have. They wilted anyway.“There’s been a lot of maturity,” Roberts said. “I think that he understands that more is not always more as far as effort or trying to bully hitters. He knows how to pitch and make pitches.”“I think this time around, he really understands,” said Mookie Betts, whose first-inning homer gave the Dodgers a lead they’d never surrender. “It seems like he has a better understanding of what it takes, how to stay healthy, what kind of pitcher he is.”
Mookie Betts celebrates after hitting a first-inning homer against the Rockies. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)The Rockies made an easy target. They came into Dodger Stadium having not scored a single run in their previous series, a dishonor that a team has endured just 34 times in the sport’s history since 1901. Colorado already owns baseball’s worst record, and the dubious distinction of ranking second-worst in baseball as an offense by wRC+ and second-worst as a pitching staff in ERA. For a Dodgers team looking to get right, the Rockies were a welcome sight.“It wasn’t fun giving up the first run in five games for them,” May quipped. The sixth-inning run had snapped a franchise-worst 32-inning scoreless streak. “But it was a solid start, so can’t complain.”It marked his first major league win in 709 days. It didn’t come with a commemorative baseball, nor did May want one.“It’s huge just to be able to go out and pitch,” May said. “Even if it wasn’t good, it would be huge for me because I haven’t been able to do it for so long, and it almost got taken away. Being able to contribute and be kind of decent is huge.”He’s been more than just kind of decent so far.“He’s gotten a lot better,” Roberts said.(Top photo: Kirby Lee/ Imagn Images)
