There was a captivating new charm in watching Dustin May taking over the mound for a team other than the Los Angeles Dodgers. May made the much awaited debut for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. Six days after parting ways with the Dodgers, May labored through 3 ⅔ innings against the Kansas City Royals. He allowed three runs on six hits with one walk and two hit batters.
Clearly, his debut didn’t go as he might’ve hoped with the Red Sox losing 7-3 to the Royals. May could only get 11 out across 91 pitches he threw. He was eventually tagged with the loss as the Red Sox’ seven-game winning streak came to an end. However that’s not what his debut was all about.
During Dustin May’s stint with the Dodgers, he mostly used his sinker and sweeper against the right handed hitters. With the Red Rox, he tweaked the mix and added a cutter. He threw it one third of the time, exactly 27 times.
Dustin May on his increased cutter usage today vs the beginning of the season
“They like [my cutter] as a weapon pitch.” pic.twitter.com/ymPLEmLXoq
— NESN (@NESN) August 7, 2025
It’s more than he ever did back in LA. After the game, he opened up about his debut. “They kind of wanted me to get my feet wet for the first one, then dig in a little bit,” May said. “They had the idea. In L.A., it was more so just use it as an influence, but they like it [cutter] as a weapon pitch and I kind of agree.” he added. The Red Sox are evidently giving him a room to evolve and use his mechanics the way he wants to.
“I like it a lot. I haven’t had much success in my two outings [at Fenway], but it’s great. Fans are great, atmosphere is fantastic, and I’ve got to pitch better for them.” May said while sharing his experience of pitching at Fenway.
It was the fourth inning when things started unravelling. may issued a lead off walk to the Royals’ Adam Frazier. Dustin May surrendered three back to back singles that gave the Royals a lead. May’s last pitch of the night struck Bobby Witt Jr that ended wrapped up his underwhelming beginning at Fenway.
Despite of a rough outing, Dustin May got to be feeling more settled after arriving in Boston.
Red Sox starter Dustin May was “pushed out” by the Dodgers?
Two of the Dodgers crucial phenoms—Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow were set to join the club’s stacked rotation after injury setbacks. That was probably the reason why the team planned to send Dustin May to the bullpen soon. That eventually did not happen since the Red Sox had made an enticing offer for the starter. It was a prospects package to which the Dodgers couldn’t deny.
Guess what? May himself admitted it after coming to Boston. “I was kind of pushed out” he said. He further added feeling sad, after all, May has spent his entire career in Los Angeles. But again, he expressed being excited to start his new journey with the Red Sox in Boston. “He’s ready to go. Excited.” Said manager Alex Cora during the weekend.
From Tanner Houck to Hunter Gobbins and Kutter Crawford, all are out for the season. The Red Sox were in dire need of a veteran upgrade over rookie Richard Fitts. In the last few weeks, he has been manning the no.5 spot for the team.
Ironically, May’s final outing for the Dodgers was against the Red Sox when Alex Bergman tagged him for a two run homer. Over all, May seems to be happy with the decision as he looks to come back even stronger at his next outing.
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