R.A. Dickey’s impeccable control with that dancing knuckleball has made him the most dominant pitcher in baseball.
Dickey became the first major leaguer in 24 years to throw consecutive one-hitters and Ike Davis hit a grand slam to lead the New York Mets past the Baltimore Orioles 5-0 on Monday night.
Coming off a one-hit gem at Tampa Bay last Wednesday, Dickey struck out a career-high 13 and allowed only Wilson Betemit’s clean single in the fifth inning. He has not permitted an earned run in 42 2/3 innings, the second-longest stretch in club history behind Dwight Gooden’s streak of 49 innings in 1985.
“I’m going to leave it to you guys to explain it. I’m just going to try to be in the moment with it,” Dickey said.
The previous pitcher to throw consecutive one-hitters was Dave Stieb for Toronto in September 1988, according to STATS LLC. The Mets said the last to match the feat — or top it — in the National League was Jim Tobin with the 1944 Boston Braves, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau. Tobin tossed a one-hitter followed by a no-hitter.
The 37-year-old Dickey (11-1) walked two and became the first 11-game winner in the majors, befuddling Baltimore with knucklers that ranged from 66-81 mph in a game that took just 2 hours, 7 minutes. He fanned the final two hitters, topping his previous career best of 12 strikeouts set Wednesday against the Rays.
“Yeah, it’s surreal,” Dickey said. “You almost get emotional out there, especially that last hitter. You hear everybody, like one big heartbeat beating. That’s the best way I could explain it.”
A longtime journeyman before joining the Mets in 2010, Dickey has won nine straight decisions and six consecutive starts. He is tied for the major league lead in ERA (2.00), strikeouts (103) and complete games (three).
It was his fourth game this season with double-digit strikeouts, most in the majors, and the fifth of his career. The right-hander has an incredible 71 strikeouts and six walks in his last seven starts.
The Mets, who lead the NL with seven shutouts, had lost three straight and nine of 13.
Betemit’s two-out single in the fifth ended Dickey’s franchise-record streak of 13 hitless innings.
“Do I have a chance to appeal that base hit? Did anybody dive for that ball? I got a bad view,” Mets manager Terry Collins said, drawing laughs.
The only blemish Wednesday night was B.J. Upton’s infield single with two outs in the first, a high bouncer that third baseman David Wright tried to field with his bare hand.
After the game, the Mets appealed the official scoring decision to Major League Baseball, asking the commissioner’s office to review the play and consider whether Wright should be charged with an error, thus giving Dickey the team’s second no-hitter this month. The appeal was denied and Dickey said he was relieved, explaining that there would have been “an asterisk by it bigger than the no-hitter itself.”
“He has no wild pitches this year. That’s impressive,” Baltimore slugger Adam Jones said. “He’s in a groove.”
One of the people Dickey can thank for his incredible success story is Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who was instrumental in persuading Dickey to remake himself into a knuckleballer when both were in Texas.
“He had every attribute of a major league pitcher except the arm,” Showalter said, his thoughts then turning to the fact that his team was about to face Dickey. “I wish it hadn’t happened.”
After the game, Dickey said he would be remiss not to thank Showalter.
“You know, and this is a tip of the hat to him: It was fairly poetic, I thought. The last game he saw me pitch live I gave up six home runs and tied a modern-day major league record,” Dickey said. “It’s really incredible.”
Betemit’s line drive to right-center brought an ovation from the crowd of 29,014, which had started chanting “R.A. Dickey!” in the fifth.
Dickey even sparked the New York rally with a leadoff single in the sixth against Jake Arrieta (3-9), a question mark to make his start until just a few hours before the game because he had been feeling ill the past few days.
Jordany Valdespin doubled with one out and Dickey had to scramble back to third after he initially broke the wrong way on Wright’s lineout to shortstop. The pitcher barely beat the throw, and that turned out to be a crucial play.
Lucas Duda walked and Davis hit the next pitch just to the left of center for his seventh home run of the year and first career slam, prompting a curtain call.
“My first time. It was really cool. I wasn’t expecting it,” said Davis, who has raised his batting average to .196 with a recent surge.
The four RBIs set a career high for Davis. His drive would have stayed in the ballpark before the fences were brought in this season.
Valdespin tripled off Kevin Gregg in the eighth and scored on Wright’s single.
Baltimore, which had won seven of eight, was coming off consecutive shutouts in Atlanta.
–ESPN
