Dustin May Reignites Cardinals Hope in Win Over Red Sox

St. Louis Cardinals fans saw the version of Dustin May that the front office was betting on in free agency on Friday night against the Boston Red Sox.

May is familiar with Boston. He was a member of the organization down the stretch in 2025 after he was traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to Boston. He got a chance to face his old team and responded with his best outing of the season so far.

May pitched six innings against Boston and allowed one earned run and two runs total. The Cardinals' flamethrower struck out four, didn't walk anyone and allowed just four base hits while throwing just 75 pitches in the win. That's efficiency. St. Louis would go on to win its eighth game of the season and improve to 8-5 on the campaign. Boston dropped to 4-9 on the season.

Dustin May Had A Big Night

Mar 29, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Dustin May (3) pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

It was a very difficult start to the season for May. In his first two starts, he allowed 13 earned runs in just 7 1/3 innings pitched. Not walking anyone on Friday is a good sign. He walked one batter in four innings pitched in his first outing and followed with two walks in his second outing across 3 1/3 innings of work. He showed improved command on Friday, and it led to outs.

What's most exciting, though, is the fact that May's fastball was working. Throughout Spring Training, there was a lot of buzz about how May's velocity was back after dealing with years on injuries. That was the case on Friday. May featured a blistering 97.4 miles per hour fastball on average against the Red Sox and it topped out at 99.3 miles per hour, per Baseball Savant.

Throughout Spring Training, the vibes around May were exceptionally high. He had a 1.54 ERA in three appearances and looked like the guy who broke out with the Dodgers years ago before injuries stalled his momentum. Then, all of a sudden, that changed in his first two starts of the season. On Friday, things got back on track a bit. Now, of course, this is one start that we're talking about. It's certainly not a big enough sample size to go off. But it's still exciting, nonetheless.

If this version of May is the version Cardinals fans are going to see most of the time, St. Louis' rotation is going to be in very good shape. Michael McGreevy, Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante already are pitching well. If May can join that group, they're going to win a lot of games.