Dustin May’s early exit derailed the Milwaukee Brewers' momentum as a furious late-inning rally fell short.
Dustin May matched a season-high seven earned runs allowed in his latest start on Wednesday, Aug. 19.
After routing the Seattle Mariners, 22-0, the Brewers dropped game two, 7-5.
All things considered, only losing by two runs is extremely impressive knowing Milwaukee trailed 7-0 through the first two innings.
May needed 66 pitches to record six outs, and after two innings, manager Pat Murphy had seen enough.
For what it's worth, May gave up seven runs in a 3.1 inning start back on Saturday, April 4, but it's safe to say this outing against the Mariners was worse than that one as he allowed the same number of hits (seven) and walks (two) in a smaller sample size.
May falls to 6-8 on the year
The Brewers' biggest acquisition at the deadline couldn't lead them to victory, and while they still have the best record in all of baseball, it was quite noteworthy watching his ERA rise from 4.13 to 4.57.
Bad starts are going to happen from time to time, and the 28-year-old has been around long enough to know that he can't let it get to him.
"There was a lot of stuff I could have executed better, but it was one of those outings where you can’t be super frustrated with yourself, just because you didn’t really give up any hard contact,” May said, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
He added, "I’ve had a lot of these type of outings this year, unfortunately. It’s one of those things where you have to put your head down and execute the next pitch and hope for a better result.”
McCalvy noted that according to Statcast, only one of the seven hits May allowed left the bat at north of 87 mph, which speaks to his point about not allowing hard contact. The Mariners outhit the Brewers, 10-8 in this game, and had two extra-base hits compared to the Brewers' one.
Brewers offense nearly rallied
Milwaukee answered rather early with a two-out, two-run homer from Joey Ortiz. The Brewers infielder has been on a heater recently, and there's a reason why he's earned everyday playing time.
From there, they added one run in the seventh and two in the eighth, but still fell two shy of making this game go to extra innings.
Jackson Chourio led the way with a three-hit night, bringing his season average up to .279.
While Chourio had the most hits, Ortiz had an astonishing four-RBI night, something no one would've expected from him coming into this season.
