Dustin May took the ball for the St. Louis Cardinals with a 6.81 ERA in day games this season, a split that stood out before the matchup with the Atlanta Braves. His numbers were sharper at night, where he carried a 2.05 ERA, leaving the Cardinals with a starter whose results changed sharply with the setting.
Dustin May and the day split
May entered at 5-6 with a 4.30 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP, but the daylight line told the more relevant story for this start. He had also posted a 4.79 ERA on the road and a 3.94 ERA at home, so the Braves saw a pitcher whose production had not traveled or timed itself evenly.
That split was not just theory. In his last outing, a road day game against the Royals, he allowed six earned runs in two innings. The Cardinals needed him to settle in faster than he had in that start, especially with another day game on the schedule.
The Braves against May
The matchup added another layer because the Braves had done enough against him before to make the preview uncomfortable. They had 14 hits in 70 at-bats against May, and Mike Yastrzemski accounted for half of those hits while the rest of the lineup went 7-for-56.
The Braves also entered at 50-34 and were in control of their division, while the Cardinals were above.500 but trailed the Brewers by 8.5 games. The Cubs were ahead of the Cardinals in the division, and the Reds were the only other NL Central club more than one game under.500, which left little margin for a rough outing from the starter.
Hurston Waldrep and the Braves
Hurston Waldrep was set to make just his second appearance for the Braves this season after working two innings in relief against the Giants on Friday and allowing two hits. Spencer Strider was on the injured list, so the Braves were using what they had while still sitting in first-place position in the division race.
For the Cardinals, the decision came down to whether May could turn the day-game split into a short-lived trend rather than a pattern. The answer to that starts with the first few innings, and his recent road day start against the Royals gave the clearest warning sign.
