
Game 2: April 20 – 7:05 ET @ Camden Yards
R.A. Dickey (1-2, 6.75 ERA, 3.58 FIP) vs.
Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0, 3.75 ERA, 2.86 FIP)
Dickey’s season has been a perplexing one so far. His knuckleball has looked quite good, and it’s been dancing around in each of his starts, but the results haven’t been strong. The strikeouts have been there, but he’s given up 20 hits in 14.1 innings of work, as his BABIP against is a bloated .388.
He’s striking out a fair amount of batters, he’s getting the ball on the ground at a clip of 44%, which is the highest it’s been since his 2012 season, and he’s only given up one home run, but balls in play have been finding holes, that’s just the way this game is sometimes.
Ubaldo was great in his first start of the year, going 7 strong innings against the struggling Twins while striking out 9 and without surrendering a walk. He wasn’t nearly as good in Boston, as he struggled with command.
He has had some success against the Jays though, as last year he went 3-1 across 4 starts. In those outings he owns a 2.55 ERA with a line of 24.2 IP, 17 H, 7 ER, 12 BB, and 27 K. That success will be something to watch in this one, but Ubaldo is a wildcard from game to game. He can be dominant at times, and he can’t find the zone at others, you just don’t really know what kind of pitcher you’re going to get.
Next: Game 3: Will Tillman's struggles against the Jays continue?