It was as close to perfection as you can get.

Making only his fifth start since returning from Tommy John surgery, 25-year-old Dodgers right-hander Dustin May was but a walk away from throwing five perfect innings against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on Friday evening – a walk which was quickly erased in a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.

The Justin, TX native and Dodgers third round draft pick in 2016 out of Northwest High School in Justin did not allow a hit in his stellar five innings of work while striking out four.

May made a total of 69 pitches in what Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had told reporters pregame would be “around 75 to 80 pitches,” – this in an attempt to continuing to build up the (very) hard-throwing 6′-6″/180-pound right-hander without risking injury.

“Getting him out of the game feeling good is the win,” Roberts said postgame. “Considering how he threw the baseball the last couple times, building off tonight, going on regular rest his next turn was the smart decision.”

Of May’s 69 total pitches, 40 were strikes, which included striking out the side in the bottom of the third inning in the Dodgers eventual 5-0 shutout win over ‘The Hated Ones.’

“I threw strikes, plain and simple,” May said of his second win of the season.

On the other side of the ball, the Dodgers relentlessly pounded the Giants, collecting nine hits on the night. In fact, only Dodgers catcher Will Smith and left fielder Joey Gallo went hitless, although Gallo drove in the Dodgers first – and winning – run on a boom-boom 3-2 fielder’s choice in the top of the second inning.

And then there was 37-year-old Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, who collected his career-tying 34th and new career-high 35th doubles of the season on Friday night.

It was the Dodgers 13th win of the season over the Giants, their most since 2006, when they also won 13 games. That said, the two teams still have two games remaining against one another this weekend at Oracle Park.

Worthy of note, the Giants never had a runner reach second base on Friday night.

Play Ball!

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