After R.A. Dickey gave up eight earned runs in five innings Wednesday at Washington, the veteran Braves knuckleballer said in an earnest tone, “My results tonight were very pedestrian. But I’m close. I’m close to turning the page here and not being mediocre.”
It seemed like wishful thinking at the time, but Dickey looked like he knew something the rest of us didn’t when he made his next start Monday night against the free-falling San Francisco Giants. He allowed three hits and one walk in seven innings of a 9-0 series-opening win at SunTrust Park, the Braves’ third straight and fifth in seven games.
They blew the game open with a seven-run eighth inning that featured a mammoth three-run pinch-hit homer from Danny Santana.
Ender Inciarte had an RBI double in the third inning and power-surging fill-in Matt Adams hit another long home run in the fourth inning against Giants starter Johnny Cueto before the Braves feasted on the Giants’ shaky bullpen in the eighth, including a two-run single from Dansby Swanson and Santana’s home run that reached the top deck of the Chop House beyond the right-field seats.
“I mean, that’s up there in big-boy territory there,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. ” That was something.”
It was Santana’s first career pinch-hit homer and the first of the season for the Braves, and the ball sailed even further than multiple homers that Freddie Freeman and Adams have hit to the Chop House, each of theirs in that area coming down on the level below the one that Santana reached.
“I have confidence in my ability, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that it happened,” Santana said through an interpreter.
After a 44-minute rain delay prior to the first pitch, Dickey (5-5) pitched his best game of the season and his first scoreless outing for the Braves. He gave up a double and single to the first two batters, worked out of that jam with two pop-ups and a strikeout, then didn’t allow another runner to advance past first base as the Giants stumbled to their seventh consecutive loss and ninth in 10 games.
Dickey retired 16 of the final 17 batters he faced before leaving for a pinch-hitter when the Braves had a runner on first base and two out in the seventh inning with a 2-0 lead.
Adams continued doing a splendid job of replacing injured star Freeman, going down to get an 0-1 change-up from Cueto at the knees and pulling it long and strong to the landing in front of the Chop House, pushing the lead to 2-0 in the fourth. It was the 11th home run for “Big City” and his 10th since joining the Braves on May 21.
“He’s been a huge, huge part of our team since he got here,” Snitker said. “It’s great to see.”
Adams singled through the right side of the infield in the eighth inning, giving him 27 RBIs in 28 games since being traded from St. Louis to Atlanta when the Braves scrambled to get a replacement after Freeman fractured his wrist.
Swanson and fellow rookie Johan Camargo had run-scoring hits in the inning before Santana hit his epic home run.
“Camargo’s been swinging that bat, it seems like the last couple of days he’s been in the middle of everything we’re doing,” Snitker said. “And Dansby had a real big at-bats right there, and that’s good because in that game just got to keep adding on. It’s good to see those young guys contributing.”
Between Freeman and Adams the Braves have 24 home runs from first basemen, the most homers that any team in the majors has gotten from players at any one position this season. Freeman is expected to be out until at least late July, at which point the Braves will have to make a decision whether to keep Adams as a bench player and backup to Freeman, or trade him, since they are likely to get plenty of attractive offers.
“We all miss Freddie, but this guy’s been everything … more than anything that we could have probably hoped for in the moment,” Dickey said. “And just a consummate professional as well. Everything about him and his game has been an incredibly pleasant surprise. I’m hoping we can find a spot for him in a few weeks when Freddie comes back somehow.”
Dickey improved to 4-1 in eight home starts and was in complete control after giving up two hits to start the game.
Granted, these are not the Giants of recent vintage. Far from it. They are a banged-up, last-place team that has lost 16 of 20 games and fell to a season-high 20 games under .500 (26-46). They started the night 19 ½ games behind the National League West-leading Rockies.
But for Dickey and the Braves, it was important to win their first matchup against the Giants since losing consecutive games May 27-28 at San Francisco. That was the last series win for the Giants, and the Sunday afternoon finale at AT&T Park was a low point for Dickey, who gave up six runs in the first two innings of a 7-1 loss. That was the only win for Cueto (5-7) in his past seven decisions.
“I told somebody, I owe these guys,” Dickey said. “I was glad it was Cueto, too, because he was pitching when they put it on me there. And he’s so frustrating. I gave their team some quick pitches tonight and some things that he does, that I’ve been working on and will continue to work on because I think they can be bullets in my gun throughout the year. It’s fun with that guy to have some gamesmanship.”
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