NEW YORK – R.A. Dickey's first start back at Citi Field since his Mets heyday ended sooner than he expected because of a quadriceps spasm, but the 42-year-old knuckleballer was nonetheless pleased with the results in a 7-5 win Thursday that gave the Braves a two-game sweep of the Mets.
Dickey gave up five hits and three runs (two earned) in five innings before exiting with a left-quad spasm that occurred when he raced to first base on a fourth-inning grounder to avoid a would-be inning-ending double play. He and the Braves don’t expect it to affect his next scheduled start.
“When I hit the ball, just instinct takes over,” said Dickey, who hit a bases-loaded grounder to third base with one out for the force at the plate with the Braves leading 2-0. “That’s a (potential) big run in a big situation and you’re getting down the line. You just don’t want to be part of a double play to take you out of an inning, so you probably run a little bit more than you should or harder than you should, and it bit me a little bit. I pitched a couple of innings with it.”
All three runs charged to Dickey came after the incident as he pitched solely from the stretch in the fourth and fifth innings due to the discomfort.
He gave up two doubles in a three-batter span to start the two-run fourth inning when the Mets tied the score. And after the Braves’ four-run fifth inning, Dickey allowed a homer to Jose Reyes on the first pitch of the fifth inning before retiring the last three batters he faced.
“It’s not more than I’ve managed before in my career,” Dickey said, “it’s just unfortunate (because) I feel like I had a pretty good knuckleball today. Outside of the first-pitch cookie that Jose hit out, I felt pretty good with everything. Even after the injury, I had to stay in the stretch but I still had a good knuckleball. I felt good enough to pitch.”
Dickey had thrown only 67 pitches, but Braves manager Brian Snitker saw no reason for the veteran pitch to push it with the Braves ahead 6-3.
“I think he’ll be OK. He doesn’t foresee missing his next start,” Snitker said. “It was just the point in that game, I told him, I don’t want to chance it any more.”
Braves second baseman Jace Peterson, who had two hits including an RBI single filling in for injured Brandon Phillips, praised Dickey’s determination.
“He’s out there pitching with a little quad thing going on,” Peterson said. “He’s a gamer, he’s a guy you want on the mound, and I thought he threw excellent.”
