One thing Padres fans have seen a lot of during the 2019 season is young players making their Major League debuts. On Friday night they got to witness another one, except this time it was a Dodgers rookie getting the honor.
Dustin May, the highest-ranked pitching prospect in the L.A. system and a top-40 MLB prospect overall, started his first bit league game. The kid definitely has good stuff. It just wasn't quite good enough to beat the Friars.
The Padres won 5-2 to even their 4-game series at Chavez Ravine. San Diego took a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning when rookie catcher Francisco Mejia singled home Eric Hosmer. It was the only run May allowed in the first five innings and his offense got him a lead.
In the 4th inning Cody Bellinger ripped his 36th home run of the year, a 2-run shot to centerfield off Padres starter Eric Lauer. But those were the only two runs Lauer gave up in 6.0 innings of work.
The Padres got to May in their third trip through the order. Wil Myers, Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer hit back-to-back-back singles with Hosmer's scoring Myers to tie the game 2-2. Then rookie outfielder Josh Naylor smoked a double off the centerfield wall to bring in Machado and Hosmer and put the Friars up 4-2.
That was the last pitch May threw and this time, even against a Padres bullpen that has been suspect most of the season, he was not getting off the hook for his first loss. Myers, who had three hits, singled to score Greg Garcia in the 7th inning and three relievers locked it up from there.
Andres Munoz, Craig Stammen and Kirby Yates all tossed a scoreless inning to put the Friars back in the win column. The Friars can secure at least a series split on Saturday when a couple more young hurlers square off. Cal Quantrill gets the start against Walker Buehler.
