Pirates top Mets after Dickey tires in 8th
A premature exit could have been expected for R.A. Dickey.
But even with a partially torn plantar fascia in his right foot, the 36-year-old knuckleballer was anything but a liability on the mound Tuesday night.
Unfortunately for the Mets, his effectiveness eventually wore off and his gritty performance finally came to a close when the Pirates scored three runs in the eighth inning to spark a 5-1 come-from-behind victory over the Mets (25-29).
It was the first Citi Field win for the Pirates (25-28), who were 0-8 there.
All eyes had been fixed on Dickey (2-6), who made his first start since hurting his right heel Thursday in Chicago. His every move was scrutinized, from the way he pushed off on his release, to his lumbering patrol of grounders, to his headfirst dive for Dusty Brown's bunt in the eighth. And for much of the night, Dickey was nearly flawless.
Despite the intermittent "biting'' pain in his foot, he struck out a career-high 10 and retired 13 in a row from the third to the seventh inning. But things fell apart in the eighth when Ronny Cedeño singled on Dickey's first pitch of the inning, a 74-mph knuckleball. With two outs, Dickey hit Jose Tabata with a pitch on the elbow (although replays showed the batter didn't appear to be hit) to put two aboard for rookie Josh Harrison.
The third baseman, in his first major-league game, singled over leaping first baseman Nick Evans and into rightfield. Carlos Beltran fielded the ball and inexplicably fired an off-line throw toward third baseman Daniel Murphy. He threw to shortstop Ruben Tejada in an unsuccessful attempt to get a sliding Harrison at second.
A walk to Andrew McCutchen, who struck out in his first three at-bats, loaded the bases. Terry Collins chose to stick with Dickey, who got ahead 0-and-2 on cleanup hitter Neil Walker before surrendering a two-run single that put the Pirates ahead 3-1.
"With knuckleballers, inning by inning, they can be outstanding or they can lose it," said Collins, who let Dickey throw 108 pitches, one shy of his season high.
A frustrated Dickey, who had his right foot heavily wrapped in ice after the game, said his injury was a "non-issue" in the outcome. He also said he regretted hitting Tabata the most. "That one hurts," said Dickey, who allowed five hits and walked two in 72/3 innings.
Collins pulled Dickey in favor of Jason Isringhausen, who worked out of the inning. But a two-run deficit became a 5-1 hole in the ninth thanks to a throwing error by Tejada that let Cedeño reach first. Brown singled off Bobby Parnell and Tabata walked before Brandon Wood drove in two runs with a single to center.
"I'm sure he was overanxious," Collins said of Parnell, who came off the 15-day disabled list Monday. "He was gone, I know he wanted to impress everybody going out there, but we've got to get some strikes."
Though Parnell said he no longer has numbness in his right middle finger, he said before the game: "It's possible I'll have to live with [circulation issues] the rest of my life."
Angel Pagan, who hit leadoff in Jose Reyes' absence, doubled off James McDonald and scored on Jason Bay's infield hit to give the Mets a 1-0 lead in the first. But despite getting six hits off McDonald in six innings, the Mets failed to score another run.
The Mets have gone 10 consecutive games without a home run for the first time since 1979.
Notes & quotes: Pat Misch cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo . . . Murphy (2-for-4) made his first big-league start at third base.
