Blue Jays cool off hot hitting Rangers: Dickey wins shutout

R.A.Dickey was dominant, shutting out the previously hot Texas Rangers in a start where the knuckleballer finally got the run support he has been missing.

Dickey had a powerful outing going eight innings, shutting out the Texas Rangers on only three hits. He had a streak of fourteen straight batters retired at the end of the eighth inning and walked only one batter.  Dickey struck out six and had one of the best games of his season; perhaps due in part to the added element in his delivery. Dickey mixed up the speed of his wind up, alternating between a quick pitch and a hesitation and this new element worked to confuse the timing of the batters at the plate. After entering this game with a 5.18 ERA, he’s lowered it to 4.31.

Chad Girodo entered in relief of Dickey in the ninth and had a shutout inning.

Martin Perez (3.51ERA) went six and a third innings and gave up five hits, and two runs, one of which was earned.  He threw three strikeouts and walked three batters.  The relief pitching for Texas (in the form of Sam Dyson in the seventh and Wilhelmsen in the eighth) was poor and gave up three runs over the two and two-third innings of relief.

Jose Bautista singled and scored in the sixth inning and Darwin Barney singled and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh to score the first two runs of the game.  The Blue Jays had a breakout inning in the eighth scoring three runs, two of which came on home runs.  Every batter except Donaldson reached base .

Justin Smoak had a perfect game tonight going 2-for-2 with two walks and two doubles.

Tonight was a night for career numbers for the Jays.  Edwin broke the tie with Joe Carter on the Blue Jays’ Franchise Home Run list with his solo homer in the eighth.  He now has 204 home runs as a Blue Jay.  Tulowitzki had his 200th career home run tonight when he too homered in the eighth inning to drive in two runs.  Donaldson also had a career game as he played his 600th MLB game tonight.

Next up for the Jays is Estrada (1-2 with a 2.39ERA) pitted up against Colby Lewis (2-0 with a 3.20 ERA) on Saturday night at 8:05.  The Jays will be looking for their ninth win in the month of May.