Dustin May was nearly perfect, and so too was an opportunistic Cardinals offense that continues to punish foes with two-out runs.

May, who signed a one-year, free-agent contract with the Cardinals in hopes of getting his injury-marred career back on track, pitched the game of his career on Monday at Busch Stadium. Perfect over six innings, May allowed just one hit and one walk in the first complete-game shutout of his career as the Cards toppled the Padres 3-0.

Manny Machado’s roller between shortstop and third base in the seventh inning was San Diego’s only hit the night. May, 28, got great defensive plays from Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn behind him and he seemed to pick up steam as he went along. He struck out the side in the sixth and eighth innings and fanned Fernado Tatis with a hard-biting sweeper to end the game as Busch Stadium.

“After all the stuff that I’ve been through in my career, that tops it because that was fantastic,” May told Cardinals.TV after doffing his hat toward the crowd after throwing the fourth one-hitter in the history of Busch Stadium III. “I mean, I couldn’t have done it without the guys behind me. The guys put up some runs and let me go out and be comfy. So, it was a great team win.”

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said he had “a three-second conversation” with May to make sure he wanted to pitch the ninth inning and he liked how the pitcher and the Cardinals defense seemed to feed off one another as the dynamic outing churned on throughout the night.

“Man, that was impressive, especially coming off the last series,” Marmol said, referring to the Cards dropping two of three games in Minnesota over the weekend. “For him to be on point, I just love the way that he competes. You look him out there and every pitch means something. That’s contagious because you look at the defense behind him. With what (shortstop) Masyn (Winn) was able to do on a couple of those plays, you could see a determination in his eyes that he was going to keep the shutout going.”

May came into the night having posted a 1.93 ERA with 24 strikeouts and just three walks over his last three outings. On Monday, he was better than he’s ever been with the Dodgers, Red Sox or Cardinals. He pitched a career-high nine innings and tied his career high with nine strikeouts. He got nine outs with his sinker, eight with his four-seam fastball, five with his cutter, three with the sweeper and two on changeups.

“I felt like I got in a little bit better groove toward the (end of) the game,” May said. “I got into a little bit better rhythm with my body and my feeling around the zone and my stuff was coming out good.”  

May was perfect for six innings, retiring the first 18 batters he faced. He got a boost to open the fifth inning when left fielder Lars Nootbaar made a dazzling diving catch to rob Ben Sheets. In the sixth inning, May showed his total dominance over the game by striking out the side to keep his pitch count at 67 through six innings.

The perfect game ended when Tatis Jr. opened the seventh inning with a walk. Then, after Winn made a dazzling back-handed play to rob Jackson Merrill of a hit, Machado laced a roller between shortstop and third for the first hit of the game. However, Winn responded to that by racing to the bag and throwing onto first for an inning-ending double play.

The Cardinals struck first, and with two outs, in the fourth inning. After Lars Nootbaar slapped a high fastball the other way and Masyn Winn beat out an infield single off Lucas Giolito’s glove, rookie catcher Jimmy Crooks drilled a pitch above the zone to the gap in left-center to plate two runs.

Asked after the game if he had more fun catching the one-hitter or driving in the first two runs, Crooks joked: “Definitely receiving, for sure. As a catcher, you have to be a leader behind the plate. D-May was awesome and he pained the corners all night.”

Alec Burleson made it 3-0 an inning later – again with two strikes. Burleson hooked a 3-1 changeup from Giolito down the first base line to plate Ivan Herrera, who had walked and moved up on a wild pitch. Burleson extended his hitting streak to a career-best 15 games. He has nine RBI over his last seven games.   

Burleson, who came into Monday having homered in five of his past six games, nearly went deep again before being thwarted by Merrill. Burleson drove a 91.8 mph fastball from Giolito some 403 feet deep, but Merrill extended his glove high above the center field fence and robbed the potential homer.

Marmol said the Cardinals are finally getting the version of May that they hoped for when they signed him to a free-agent deal despite his long history of arm injuries and a freakish esophagus tear that proved life threatening at one time.

“We placed a bet on if this guy was healthy, coming out of everything he’s had to deal with over the last few years,” Marmol said of May, who lost approximately 25 pounds after suffering the esophagus injury when a piece of lettuce got lodged in his throat. “We thought if he got back to his real fighting weight, had a real offseason and got after it the way we know he’s capable of that he could do some really impressive things and he’s done exactly that. So, to have his story and pitch the way he did tonight, it’s pretty awesome.”

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