Game Recap: Mets 3, Diamondbacks 1

The Mets ran out R.A. Dickey to the mound on a beautiful afternoon at Citi Field to try and take two out of three from the Diamondbacks before they head to Philadelphia for a big series against Roy Halladay and the Phillies. Dickey came up huge with a dominant performance, pitching into the ninth inning for the first time this season.

New York wasted no time in giving their knuckleballer some support against the young Trevor Cahill; Andres Torres led off the game with a walk, and after Captain Kirk flew out to center, David Wright singled to center, moving to Torres to third and Wright advancing to second on the throw. That proved to be a big play because Daniel Murphy came up with a big, two-out single plating both for an early 2-0 lead.

The Mets struck again in the fourth, but it came at a cost. Ike Davis walked with two outs, then Ruben Tejada reached first on a bunt

single, but he tripped on his way over the bag, straining his right quad. After some time on the ground, Tejada did walk off the field under his own power. Justin Turner entered the game as a pinch runner and stayed on to play short. Once that excitement was done, Josh Thole singled in Davis to push the lead to 3-0.

Although Cahill gave up the early runs, he ended up pitching very well, going 7 innings, giving up those 3 runs on only 5 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 2. On the other hand, R.A. Dickey was masterful today and it looked as if he was locating his knuckleball all over the zone, which sounds pretty insane. He was the first Met to reach the 9th inning this season, but he wasn’t able to keep his shutout intact after Justin Upton doubled in a run. He finished the game with 8+ IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 4 BB, and 4 strikeouts. He received a nice hand from the crowd at Citi Field as Terry Collins made the decision to take him out, but he was obviously upset with himself for not being able to finish off the D-backs for the shutout.

Tim Brydak came on to replace Dickey with the task of retiring Jason Kubel, which he did. That led to another pitching change by Terry Collins, bringing Frank Francisco to shut the door for his seventh save of the season. After a long battle with Paul Goldschmidt, Francisco won by way of the strikeout, which brought up lefty Miguel Montero as the tying run. He got a fastball up that he drove to the wall in right field, but the new dimensions of Citi were just enough to hold it, giving Dickey and the Mets the 3-1 victory, improving to 15-13 on the season.

There wasn’t a whole lot of offense by the Mets this afternoon, but they got what they needed, when they needed it. Ruben Tejada collected two more hits to raise his season average to .305 before he made his early exit. Daniel Murphy registered his fifth hit in two days with his two-run single, and Andres Torres pushed a bunt between the pitcher’s mound and first base line to extend his hitting streak to six games, which is a career high.

Probable Pitchers tomorrow:

The Mets head to Citizens Bank park for their second visit to the Phillies this season, looking to build upon their series win in their first meeting. New York will have no easy task, having to face Roy Halladay after he struggled in his last start. Terry Collins will send Jonathon Niese to the hill, also coming off a lackluster start. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.

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