Game Recap: R.A. Dickey First to 12 Wins in 9-0 Rout

It’s been quite the month of June for R.A. Dickey, and he’s ended it on a high note. The knuckleballer had the Dodgers dazed and confused all night, as he became MLB’s first 12-game winner, which also happens to be his single season career high. Daniel Murphy continued his power surge, helping the Mets hand LA their sixth straight loss.

Mets Offensive Highlights:

Daniel Murphy led the squad with five RBI last night, while Ruben Tejada collected four hits. The scoring got started in the third inning against Aaron Harang; Andres Torres reached on an error, followed by a Tejada single. David Wright continued his RBI binge with run-scoring single. Ike Davis hit a sacrifice fly double play, but Tejada scored before the third out. In the fifth, Tejada doubled and Wright was intentionally walked with two outs, and Lucas Dudamade it hurt with an RBI single. Then, Daniel Murphy drove in a pair with a double to make it 5-0.

In the seventh inning, the Mets put up four more runs, putting the game out of reach. Davis started it off with a double, and moved to third on a Duda single. Murphy hit his third home run in three games, this one of the three-run variety. Tejada singled to score Josh Thole, who reached on a fielding error by Dee Gordon.

Dodgers Offensive Highlights:

Dickey stymied the Los Angeles bats for eight innings, as the Dodgers only accumulated four hits last night. Elian Herrera, A.J. Ellis, Tony Gwynn Jr., and Harang got hits last night, while the first seven hitters in Mattingly’s lineup registered at least one strikeout. Their struggles continue without Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in the lineup, as they went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Pitching Highlights:

Aaron Harang continues to scuffle since picking up his 100th career win earlier this season; last night, he went 5.2 innings, gave up 7 hits, 4 walks, 5 runs (4 earned), and 3 stikeouts on 116 pitches. After Harang, Shawn Tolleson came into the game and got touched up for four more runs (three earned), followed by Kenley Jansen and Jamey Wright, who kept the Mets scoreless.

R.A. Dickey was magnificent last night, getting back to the type of performance Mets fans have come to expect from the knuckleballer. He went 8 shutout innings last night, gave up only 3 hits on 1 walk, while striking out 10 hitters. Jeremy Hefner came in to pitch the ninth, and gave up 1 hit in his appearance.

Worth Noting:

With the win, R.A. Dickey becomes MLB’s first 12-game winner, further stating his case to become the NL’s All-Star game starter. This was Dickey’s 6th start of the season where he hasn’t given up an earned run. Meanwhile, the offense is firing on all cylinders, as Tejada, Murphy, Thole, and Duda all collected at least two hits last night. Murph led the way with his 5 RBI. As a team, New York went 6-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

The victory has given the Mets three in a row, and they have taken sole possession of second place back from the Braves, as they are 3.5 games behind the Nationals. Their season record has now improved to 42-36.

Probable Pitchers Saturday:

It doesn’t get any easier tonight for the Dodgers, as Johan Santana (5-4, 3.00 ERA) takes the hill at Chavez Ravine for the Metsies. Don Mattingly will turn to Nathan Eovaldi (0-4, 4.04 ERA) to break LA’s six game skid, even though he’s coming off his worst start of the year. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15pm EST.