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The Los Angeles Dodgers moved to 7-0 on Tuesday night, equalling the 1933 New York Yankees for the best start to a season by a defending champion, behind a strong start from Dustin May, who was making history of his own.
The pitcher spent all of last season rehabbing from a torn flexor tendon in his right arm and a life-threatening esophageal tear after eating a salad at dinner with his wife in Arizona. A piece of lettuce became caught in his throat and May sipped some water trying to clear it. He felt a painful sensation in his throat and stomach, and later learned the lettuce had perforated his esophageal tube.
“It’s kind of one of those stories you just make up but it was actually true,” teammate Mookie Betts said. “God was just working his magic.”
May underwent emergency surgery that same night. He later said he “probably wouldn’t have made it through the night if I didn’t have it”, with doctors later telling him he had sought medical attention just in time.
“There wasn’t really a very bright light at the end of the tunnel at the time,” May said after Tuesday’s game. “I had to scratch and claw my way out and find my way back.”
With Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers are off to the club’s best start since moving to Los Angeles. The only better starts in franchise history came in 1955 (10-0) and 1940 (9-0) when the team was located in Brooklyn. The slumping Braves fell to 0-6 for the first time since opening 0-9 in 2016.
May allowed just one hit and an unearned run after Betts’s throwing error at shortstop in the second inning led to Atlanta’s lone run. Betts made up for his error with a go-ahead home run in the sixth before Tommy Edman singled to complete the victory.
May said cheating death has calmed him down. “Just being able to stay a little bit more level-headed throughout life in general has been one of my biggest things probably in the last six months,” he said.
The Dodgers have endured a series of strange medical mishaps. Freddie Freeman missed the start of the Braves series after slipping in the shower and hurting his surgically repaired right ankle. Betts, meanwhile, lost 15lbs after a stomach illness, describing how “my body’s just kind of eating itself”. Betts appears to have recovered well: he is batting .375 and has hit three home runs already this season.
