Red Sox starter strong despite ‘no idea where really anything was going’

BOSTON — Red Sox starter Dustin May had difficulty locating pitches Monday against the Orioles but he battled.

“Tonight it was definitely a rocky one,” May said. “I had no idea where really anything was going.”

Despite giving up eight hits and two walks, May limited Baltimore to just two runs in 6 innings. Boston’s offense, however, went silent for most of the evening and the bullpen struggled in a 6-3 loss to the Orioles at Fenway Park.

“Kind of settled in a little bit in the fifth and sixth,” May said. “Felt kind of good. But in the first four, it was scrambling, just trying to figure out how to keep the ball in the zone.”

The Orioles stroked three straight hits (a double and two singles) to begin the fourth inning. But May bore down and got Dylan Carlson and Jackson Holliday to fly out, followed by a Luis Vázquez ground out, escaping the inning having allowed just one run

“That was huge,” May said. “Just for me mentally, like not having it be three or four (runs). I mean it’s been like that all year where it’s like hit, hit, hit, and then it’s like a double or a blast … But yeah, it was huge to be able to limit it to one.”

In the third inning, May left a 95.2 mph fastball up and away within the strike zone to Gunnar Henderson who demolished it for a 414-foot, 108 mph solo homer.

“Talked about it pre-game. Just don’t go in the upper-away quadrant,” he said. “I didn’t really listen very well to that I guess and threw it right where I shouldn’t have.”

May — who Boston acquired from the Dodgers right before the trade deadline — said Orioles hitters were aggressive but he “limited damage except for the homer.”

“They were definitely putting the ball in play where guys were,” he said. “And I was just lucky enough to be able to execute some throws when I needed to to keep them from scoring.”

May showed emotion after he got Carlson to strike out swinging on a 3-2 sweeper to end the sixth.

“I’m an emotional pitcher. Everybody knows it,” May said. “I wear my heart on my sleeve. I mean, I’m excited just to go out there and especially when I’m competing and I get something that kind of goes well toward the end. I know we were down, but I thought it was a big pitch to make.”

May said he needs to focus on command moving forward.

“I had the walk to lead off the (first) inning and that wasn’t the best to start the game,” May said. “But to be able to kind of settle in a little bit, not really get everything that I wanted to dial in, but it worked. And I tried to give us the best of my ability for tonight.”

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Red Sox starter strong despite ‘no idea where really anything was going’

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