MILWAUKEE – Dustin May’s final outing of the regular season spanned only three innings of Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Cardinals at sold-out American Family Field, but it was enough to give the Brewers’ decision-makers plenty to chew on as they begin to build a postseason pitching plan. On one hand, May showed flashes of the pitcher the Brewers acquired at the Trade Deadline with October in mind. He touched 99.2 mph in a 1-2-3 first inning with the first two of his five strikeouts. When he found trouble in the second inning, he limited the damage to one run on a broken-bat single. Given all of his recent struggles, May just shook his head and smiled. On the other hand, he yielded a booming, two-out solo home run in the third inning to Alec Burleson that sailed a Statcast-projected 432 feet. All told, there was plenty to like, and some to not like. The Brewers have the next week to decide where to slot May into the staff for the National League Division Series. “I just think it’s important for his psyche to perform well,” pitching coach Chris Hook said going into the day. “It’s just such a different animal going into the playoffs. It’s not the same type of pitcher you are in the regular season. It gets turned up. We know what his stuff, whether it’s short stints or even in a longer stint, it’s going to be fun. I’m not really concerned about it.” Said manager Pat Murphy on Saturday afternoon: “This is not a tryout session.” That’s despite May’s 5.65 ERA in his 10 regular season starts with the Brewers, and that he completed five innings only once in his final eight outings. Some of that was not May’s doing; he was knocked out of a start at Citi Field against the Mets after being struck by a line drive on the first pitch of the game, for example. And his final two starts of the season were abbreviated by design – attempts by the Brewers to help May build some confidence. That plan didn’t come to fruition in his penultimate start in Philadelphia, where May was asked to get six outs and surrendered two runs on two walks and a homer.
