Dustin May Injured by Line Drive, Brewers Turn to Bullpen

For the Milwaukee Brewers, starting pitcher Dustin May’s outing on Wednesday night quickly turned challenging as he lasted only one pitch. In the Brewers’ 8-1 victory over the New York Mets at Citi Field, May faced an abrupt blow. During the bottom of the first inning, a 106 mph line drive struck the 28-year-old pitcher.

May had delivered a 96 mph fastball to A.J. Ewing, Mets center fielder, when the ball came back even faster. Despite May’s effort to turn away, the ball contacted him and ricocheted to third baseman David Hamilton. Hamilton then threw to first base, securing an out for Ewing.

However, this out came with concern for May as he displayed discomfort, clutching the impact area. Trainers promptly attended to him as he tried deep breathing exercises and threw a few warm-up pitches under their supervision and with input from manager Pat Murphy. Despite these efforts, May didn’t feel right.

When I threw it, it felt fine,” May said. “But sitting there for a couple seconds after — threw the next one and it didn’t feel right. They were more on the cautious side of, better to be safe now and protect you for later.

He left the game with a bruised right scapula and hopes to recover quickly.

“I think it all depends on how I feel Thursday,” May explained, “Right now, with motions and movements and stuff, I feel better knowing nothing is structurally wrong.”

May exited after one out, forcing Murphy to rely on the bullpen for completion of the remaining outs. Murphy jokingly commented they had planned to use May only as an opener.

“We planned just using May as an opener,” Murphy said. “Parts of six innings for Gasser — great, really great. Made big pitches at big times.”

Robert Gasser admirably filled in, pitching 5 1/3 innings while allowing one run. Relievers Grant Anderson and Bryse Wilson kept the Mets scoreless over 3 1/3 innings, giving up only three hits.

This appearance was Gasser’s first relief outing in the major leagues.

Definitely something I haven’t had to experience before,” Gasser shared. “I didn’t even sit down out there.

The Brewers acquired May from the St. Louis Cardinals during the trade deadline, expecting him to greatly contribute. This season, through 25 starts, May has recorded a 6-8 record with a 4.56 ERA across 124 1/3 innings.

The Brewers (82-51) aim to win the final game of their three-game series against the Mets (60-73) on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for Fox News Digital.