OC Register: Dustin May dazzles in Freeway finale as Dodgers beat Angels

[AngelsWin.com]

LOS ANGELES ― At 23, Dodgers pitcher Dustin May is the same age as many seniors participating in this week’s NCAA basketball tournament. He has already started once on Opening Day (last year, as a last-minute substitute for Clayton Kershaw) and appeared in nine postseason games (including two in last year’s World Series). Yet he was not guaranteed to begin the 2021 season in the starting rotation.

That changed over the weekend.

In his final tuneup of spring training, May demonstrated why Manager Dave Roberts picked him as the Dodgers’ fifth starter ahead of David Price and Tony Gonsolin. He held the Angels’ probable Opening Day lineup to one run in 5⅓ innings on Tuesday night, and the Dodgers rolled to a 6-4 win in the Freeway Series finale.

Mookie Betts hit two home runs, and Will Smith and Cody Bellinger hit one each for the Dodgers (13-11-5). Angels starter Jose Quintana allowed seven hits – four home runs and three doubles – and six runs in five innings.

Phil Gosselin’s three-run home run in the ninth inning against Andre Jackson made the final margin of defeat close for the Angels (13-13-3).

May learned early in spring training that he, Price and Gonsolin were competing for the final spot in the rotation. Sunday, he learned he had won the job. In between, the 23-year-old right-hander said he focused on becoming a less predictable pitcher, with the goal of inducing weaker contact from opposing hitters.

Of May’s four strikeouts Tuesday, only one came on a four-seam fastball in the middle of the zone or higher. He froze Anthony Rendon on a low four-seamer. He caught David Fletcher looking at a two-seamer just below the kneecap. He spun a curveball that drew a half-swing from Albert Pujols as it plunged toward the earth for strike three.

“If you look at last year and his trek through the minor leagues, everything was hard: upper 90s, hard cutter, and didn’t really use the breaking ball or the changeup,” Roberts said. “Now the changeup, curveball is part of his arsenal, he’s comfortable, confident.”

The Dodgers had few last-minute roster decisions at stake in the Freeway Series. They finished the exhibition season relatively healthy. Their title defense begins on the road Thursday in Denver.

For the Angels, the Freeway Series was more eventful off the field than on; General Manager Perry Minasian acquired four relief pitchers after the team arrived home from Tempe. One of the pitchers, veteran right-hander Steve Cishek, tossed a scoreless seventh inning Tuesday. The other, Tony Watson, is one of two left-handers in a rebuilt bullpen along with Alex Claudio.

Closer Raisel Iglesias, Mike Mayers, Chris Rodriguez, Junior Guerra, and Aaron Slegers will round out the Angels’ new-look bullpen.

Quintana, the Angels’ fifth starter, finished an otherwise strong spring training on a down note.

“The ball’s not supposed to fly out of this ballpark,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “Every time they hit a ball in the air it was out.”

Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup one day after he exited his final spring training game as a pitcher with a blister on his right middle finger. He collected a single in two at-bats. Seven other Angels had one hit apiece.

The Angels host the Chicago White Sox at Angel Stadium on Thursday night.

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[WicketMaiden]

That Dodgers team is an absolute juggernaut. Minasian will have to be a baseball genius to get the Angels close to that level of quality and depth in the next few years. The fact that their no5 starter would be our no1 or 2 says it all really. 

[Warfarin]

2 hours ago, WicketMaiden said:

That Dodgers team is an absolute juggernaut. Minasian will have to be a baseball genius to get the Angels close to that level of quality and depth in the next few years. The fact that their no5 starter would be our no1 or 2 says it all really. 

Andrew Friedman made the Rays into a perennial contender despite having close to the lowest budget in baseball for years.  He's the best FO executive in baseball, and it's why it was important, to me, that we poached Alex Tamin from the Braves, as Tamin was with the Dodgers for a number of years and was credited with helping develop their player development department.

Gotta create a FO with great minds.  Hopefully Minasian has constructed a team that can get the Angels to where the Dodges are in a few years time.