By JAKE NISSE

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May has revealed he needed emergency surgery last July for a ‘complete freak accident’ injury that he suffered while eating dinner.

May, who was still recovering from a flexor tendon and Tommy John revision surgery that he underwent during the 2023 season, was closing in on a return to the field when disaster struck.

While eating dinner on July 10, May reportedly ordered a salad and got a piece of lettuce stuck in his throat – leading him to take a sip of water to try and wash it down.

However, the relief pitcher suffered a tear in his esophagus and said he felt a ‘mega-painful’ sensation in his throat and stomach, as the Los Angeles Times reported.

After returning home and thinking he was alright, his wife urged him to go to the emergency room, where doctors quickly took him into surgery.

The procedure, which the 27-year-old called ‘basically a full abdominal surgery,’ left him with a sizable scar and a six-month recovery timeline that didn’t see him throw again until November.

Dustin May underwent emergency surgery last July after suffering a tear in his esophagus

May is now trying to work his way back and earn a spot on the Dodgers' Opening Day roster

May is now trying to work his way back and earn a spot on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster

‘It was definitely a life-altering event,’ May said on Friday from Dodgers’ spring training. ‘It was definitely very serious. It’s not a very common surgery. It was definitely an emergency.’

He later continued, ‘It just kind of gives me a different viewpoint on a lot of things in life. Just seeing how something so non-baseball-related can just be like – it can be gone in a second. And the stuff it put my wife through, it definitely gave me [a feeling] of, ‘Wow, stuff can change like that.’ It was definitely very scary.’

May missed the rest of the Dodgers’ 2024 season after undergoing the surgery, though he added he likely would not have survived if not for the procedure.

LA went on to win the World Series without him, beating the Yankees at the final stage.

May is now battling for a Dodgers roster spot as he tries to put the frightening ordeal behind him.

In 191.2 innings pitched for LA, he has an impressive 3.10 ERA and 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings. 

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Dodgers star needed emergency surgery last July after getting lettuce stuck in his throat

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