RA Dickey bounced back with a seven-inning outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks
The Mets won their second game in a series, which at this point in the post-all star break season is a major victory, sad but true. RA Dickey pitched seven strong innings as he returned to his first-half form as the Mets defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon by the score of 5-1.
The top of the first saw Daniel Murphy collect a one-out single followed by a David Wright double into right field that allowed Murphy to score from first. Wright came around himself on a looping double by Hairston down the left-field line as the Mets opened up a 2-0 lead after the opening frame of the contest.
Dickey faced minor trouble in the bottom of the second inning after Arizona got two runners on base with only one out. Dickey ‘Knuckled’ down and struck out outfielder Chris Young but walked Gerardo Parra to load the bases, up next was pitching counterpart Joe Saunders who popped out to end the threat.
Wright was in the middle of the next Mets’ rally during the top of the fifth as he walked with one out in the inning. Wright promptly stole second for his 11th steal of the season while Scott Hairston was batting. Hairston then singled to left field to bring home Wright and put the Mets up by a three-spot.
In the top of the sixth inning Andres Torres led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a groundout, Dickey followed up by striking out but the Mets continued their solid offensive ways with two outs on the scoreboard with the next batter. Ruben Tejada singled to put runners on the corners and Murphy was up next and picked up his 32nd double of the year to score Torres and give the Mets a 4-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Dickey got the first batter but all star Aaron Hill singled deep to shortstop which Tejada threw into the first base dugout and allowed Hill to advance to second uncontested. Jason Kubel struck out swinging and brought up Paul Goldschmidt, whom while batting drew a passed ball that allowed Hill to move up to third.
Goldschmidt followed with a single to give the D’Backs their first run of the game. Goldschmidt advanced to second on another passed ball, followed by a walk to Miguel Montero but Dickey struck out Chris Young for the third straight time to end the Arizona rally.
In the top of the eighth inning off of new Arizona pitcher Brad Bergesen Torres singled to start another rally followed by a Josh Thole double into left that allowed Torres to scamper home all the way from first. It proved to be the only run Bergesen allowed in two innings of relief.
Dickey was pulled after the seventh inning and Jon Rauch set Arizona down in order in the stanza. Bobby Parnell walked the leadoff batter he faced in the bottom of the ninth inning but retired the next three batters to salvage the split in the Mets’ lone trip to the Arizona desert in 2012.
Earning the win was Dickey (14-2) after allowing an unearned run on four hits while striking out eight over seven innings of work. Rauch and Parnell each worked and inning of relief, with Parnell picking up a walk and a pair of strikeouts. Saunders (5-7) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits also over seven innings, while Bergesen picked up two innings while allowing one run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Up Next: The Mets make their way further west to the sunny California coastline to take on the San Francisco Giants with the series opening up at 10:15 eastern time from AT&T Ballpark in the Fog City. Jeremy Hefner (1-4; 5.40 ERA) comes off of a loss against the Nationals, while he is opposed by Madison Bumgarner (11-6; 3.10 ERA) also comes off of two winless appearances his last two times out.
