Dodgers 3, Braves 1: Dustin May excellent in emotional return, Mookie Betts homers for the win

Chad Moriyama 04/01/2025 Game Recaps 20 Comments

The story of the game was obviously the return of Dustin May, and he didn’t disappoint in his outing, essentially twirling five shutout innings and looking every bit of himself despite being obviously emotional. For a while, it looked like the Dodgers weren’t going to support him much, but that changed late as they mounted another comeback to take a 3-1 lead in the 6th, and that’s how it ended in yet another win over the winless Braves.

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As mentioned, it was May’s first appearance since May 17 of 2023, a long road back for him.

In a cinematic occasion, he struck out the side in his first inning, generating an understandable emotional moment.

May got into some trouble in the 2nd, getting an out but with a single and a walk around it. Still, he induced what looked like an easy double-play on a ball hit up the middle, but Mookie Betts couldn’t get a grip on the ball and made one of the weirdest throws I’ve ever seen for an error that ended up plating an unearned run on May. 1-0 lead for the Braves.

After that eventful frame, he got a 12-pitch 3rd, issued just a walk in the 4th, and finished his outing by facing the minimum in the 5th after a lead-off walk was erased by an inning-ending double play.

Just a very very impressive return for the Dodgers’ 5th (!!!) starter: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 3 BB, 6 K, 81 Pitches.

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Meanwhile, on the other side of things was Chris Sale, who put in work early. He set down the side in order in the 1st, but faced trouble in the 2nd after a single and a HBP. However, he simply got the next three to end that threat, worked around another HBP in the 3rd, then cruised through a clean 4th and struck out two a dominant 5th.

At that point, I was mostly worried that he was going six or seven shutout, but the Dodgers had other plans. Shohei Ohtani started by pulling an 0-2 slider for a single, and Mookie followed by atoning for his error, yanking a slider over the left-field wall for a two-run homer (3rd) and a 2-1 lead.

After Tommy Edman followed with a single, that was the end of Sale’s day. Life comes at you fast.

Pierce Johnson then entered, and Edman immediately stole second and advanced to third on a wild throw. Will Smith cashed that in by singling on an 0-2 pitch against the drawn-in infield to make it 3-1.

After that 6th inning outburst, the Dodgers stayed quiet over the final two chances. Thankfully, it didn’t matter.

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For the Dodgers pen, it was Anthony Banda in the 6th, who got the first two outs but then gave up a double. Following a “walk” that should’ve been an inning-ending strikeout, he refocused and got the final out to end the threat.

Now with the lead, Alex Vesia got a dominant 7th with a pair of strikeouts on just nine pitches, which was helped by a great Teoscar Hernandez play in right.

Blake Treinen played setup man in the 8th, allowing a lead-off single and an almost assumed stolen base before getting out of the jam.

That setup a struggling Tanner Scott for the 9th, who looked better in consistently sitting 95-96 mph and getting a 1-2-3 frame on just 10 pitches for the win.

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The Dodgers remain perfect at 7-0, but still hold just a half-game lead in the NL West, as the Padres have started 6-0.

The series finale will be a couple hours earlier at 2:38 PM HT/5:38 PM PT/8:38 PM ET on MLB Network. It’ll be Blake Snell facing off against Bryce Elder.

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