Until Justin Upton’s run scoring double in the ninth inning, it looked like R.A. Dickey would throw the Mets’ first complete game of the season. Although he fell short of the feat, he had an excellent outing, and the Mets scored enough to take the rubber game of the series from Arizona and improve to 15-13 on the season.
Dickey retired the first ten Diamondbacks he faced before giving up a ground-rule double in the fourth inning. He did not allow a run through the eighth inning but faltered a bit in the ninth, walking the leadoff hitter and serving up the aforementioned double. In the sixth, he got himself out of a jam with runners on the corners and two outs by picking off Gerardo Parra at first base to end the inning. There’s been a lot of praise for Dickey’s move to first this year on the SNY broadcast, and today it worked at a very useful juncture of the game.
Dickey was visibly upset that he could not finish the game, spiking the rosin bag into the mound when Terry Collins came to take him out of the game, but his was still a fine start. Even with four strikeouts and walks a piece in eight innings, he was stellar.
The Mets got to Trevor Cahill early with a two-run first inning. With David Wright on second base and Andres Torres on third with only one out, the team had a great opportunity to get on the board early. Lucas Duda struck out, but Daniel Murphy hit a single to score both runners. The grand majority of Murphy’s hits this year have been singles; he now has a .063 ISO as just 7 of his 35 hits have gone for extra bases.
The team’s bats were quiet through the second and third, but they were able to tack on a run in the fourth. Ike Davis drew a two-out walk to get things started. Ruben Tejada reached first on a bunt single but tripped just before he got to the bag and face planted. He had to leave the game, and the update from the Mets was that he strained his quad during the fall. Justin Turner took Tejada’s place, and Josh Thole singled to score Davis from second base. Davis scored, but Turner attempted to take third and was thrown out to end the inning.
Arizona held the Mets scoreless for the rest of the game. Andres Torres was the lone player to reach base when he bunted for a single in the eighth inning, but the hit was erased when he was picked off at first base.
When Justin Upton doubled with nobody out in the ninth inning, Terry Collins pulled Dickey in favor of Tim Byrdak. He retired Jason Kubel on a fly ball to the warning track in left field. Collins then brought in closer Frank Francisco, who struck out Paul Goldschmidt and retired Miguel Montero on a fly ball to the warning track in right field to end the game.
The Mets begin a three-game series in Philadelphia tomorrow night at 7:05 pm. The pitching matchups for the series are (cover your eyes!): Jon Niese vs. Roy Halladay, Miguel Batista vs. Joe Blanton, and Dillon Gee vs. Cliff Lee.
SB Nation Coverage
* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* AZ Snake Pit Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: R.A. Dickey, +24.9% WPA, Daniel Murphy, +15.1% WPA
Big losers: Lucas Duda, -9.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Daniel Murphy's two-out, two-run single in the first, +16.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Justin Upton's rib-eye double in the ninth, -8.9% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +40.5% WPA
Total batter WPA: +9.5% WPA
GWRBI!: Daniel Murphy