Red Sox Getting Dustin May A Year Removed From Life-Threatening Emergency
August 1, 2025
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When the Red Sox acquired Dustin May at the trade deadline, many Boston fans were at least somewhat familiar with the right-handed starting pitcher. He took the mound just last weekend at Fenway Park, taking the loss after allowing four runs over five innings while striking out five, and he drew plenty of attention when helping the Dodgers to a World Series victory in the 2020 COVID-era postseason.
Yet Red Sox fans may not know the long journey May’s had to take to remain on the mound in the majors since that championship, as the 27-year-old underwent three surgeries in three years.
Two of those were fairly common for a professional pitcher, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 and then had a Tommy John revision in 2023. But the third surgery, which came in 2024, came under emergency circumstances in a freak accident that could have cost May his life.
BOSTON, MA – JULY 27: Dustin May #85 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park on July 27, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. BOSTON, MA – JULY 27: Dustin May #85 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park on July 27, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. Winslow Townson/Getty Images
In the summer of 2024, May was dining at a restaurant when a piece of salad got stuck in his throat. He tried to clear the lettuce with water to no avail. At the urging of his wife, he headed to the emergency room later that night, where doctors determined he had a torn esophagus.
May recounted the tale of his emergency esophagus surgery with reporters at spring training, telling the Los Angeles Times that it was “basically a full abdominal surgery” that left a scar from his chest to his stomach.
“(The salad) just got lodged in my throat a certain way,” May told MLB.com. “Instead of going down, it went out. I would have been six feet under that night.”
“It just kind of gives me a different viewpoint on a lot of things in life,” May added to the Times. “Just seeing how something so non-baseball-related can just be like — it can be gone in a second. And the stuff it put my wife through, it definitely gave me [a feeling] of, ‘Wow, stuff can change like that.’ It was definitely very scary.”
That surgery set May back in his recovery from that second Tommy John procedure, as he was unable to lift weights for six months following the surgery.
Yet he’s returned this season and made 18 starts for the Dodgers, second-most on the roster. His numbers have understandably dipped, with the Texan posting a 6-7 record with a 4.85 ERA and 1.346 WHIP.
But after entering the season with a career high of 56 innings pitched, he’s already at 104 this year — an accomplishment that wouldn’t have been possible without that life-saving surgery a year ago.
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