Dustin May dazzles in Dodgers win in San Francisco

Dustin May was magnificent after a couple shaky starts, limited only by a pitch count limit in his fifth start since returning from Tommy John surgery. May pitched five hitless innings to lead the Dodgers over the Giants 5-0 in the opener of a weekend series at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

Friday’s win was the Dodgers’ 50th road win of the season, the third time in franchise history they’ve reached that milestone, matching the 1974 team for the most away wins in a season since moving to Los Angeles.

With 99 wins on the season, the Dodgers’ magic number over St. Louis to clinch a bye into the National League Division Series is down to four.

May allowed only a second-inning walk to Brandon Crawford, then promptly erased him on a double play, one of seven ground balls induced by May that led to outs. He also struck out four, and retired his last 10 batters faced before getting pulled after 69 pitches.

The limit on May came for a reason.

Complete control was a welcome sight for May, who walked eight and hit three batters over 10 innings in his previous two starts, both losses.

The faint hope of a combined no-hitter ended with a two-out infield single by Luis González off reliever Alex Vesia in the sixth. But May’s outing was the ninth time this season a Dodgers starter allowed no hits through at least five innings.

There are numerous reasons why the Giants haven’t been able to keep pace with the Dodgers like last season, including how Logan Webb has fared against Los Angeles.

San Francisco’s ace in 2021 had a 1.47 ERA in five starts against the Dodgers, including allowing only one run in 14⅔ innings in two National League Division Series starts. But this year the Dodgers have scored 14 runs and 27 hits in 21 innings against Webb, including forcing him to throw 90 pitches in four innings on Friday

Los Angeles bunched together four hits in the fourth inning to break the game open a bit, scoring three runs in the inning on singles by Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger, and Trea Turner after Justin Turner’s double to open the frame.

Justin Turner, wearing a number 21 jersey on Friday as the Dodgers’ nominee for the 2022 Roberto Clemente Award, also doubled off lefty Thomas Szapucki in the fifth, Turner’s second double of the night and 35th of the season, the latter a career high.

Joey Gallo was heavily involved early on, first making a sliding shoestring catch in the left field corner to end the opening frame.

Max Muncy doubled to open the second inning, well out of the reach of centerfielder Mike Yastrzemski, who was mic’d up and interviewed during the frame on the Apple TV+ broadcast. Muncy advanced to third on a groundout, then beat the throw home on another grounder, a fielder’s choice by Gallo.

Perhaps you might have missed the play as Apple TV+ used a split screen during the interview with Yastrzemski, putting both the game and the centerfielder on tiny portions of the screen, negating any advantages of the visual wizardry of the Apple TV+ broadcast.

They are not the only network who uses the split screen during interviews — ESPN and Fox do as well — but a simple plea to sports broadcasting networks: We can hear the player or coach being interviewed and don’t need to see said subject during the process. That’s what our ears are for. The game is the thing that deserves full attention, visually.

Of note

Bellinger stole two bases on Friday. Gallo and Trea Turner stole one apiece, giving the Dodgers four stolen bases for the first time in 2022. It matched LA’s total steals (in eight attempts) in their first 16 games against the Giants this season.

Friday particulars

Home runs: none

WP — Dustin May (2-2): 5 IP, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

LP — Logan Webb (13-9): 4 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Up next

Saturday is the lone game of series with local announcers on television (6:05 p.m., SportsNet LA), with Julio Urías on the mound for the Dodgers.