Toronto Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey was feeling quite nostalgic after what he knows might have been his last time pitching in Texas.
The Rangers were his original team and it was at their stadium 10 years ago when made his first start after making the knuckleball his primary pitch.
Now 41 and in the last year of his contract with Toronto, Dickey allowed three singles over eight innings on Friday night as the Blue Jays won 5-0. The right-hander struck out six and walked one.
Photo: AP
“You never know when you are going to be back or get another chance,” Dickey (2-4) said. “There’s a chance this could be the last time I pitch here... That felt very validating. To come here, to come out here where it all began. It’s a neat narrative.”
This weekend wraps up the season series between the teams who met in last year’s American League Division Series — and could only meet again this season in the playoffs.
Dickey allowed six homers in 3-1/3 innings in that 2006 start for Texas and it was his last for the team who made him a first-round draft pick in 1996 and for which he made his big-league debut in 2001. He perfected the knuckleball after that, winning 20 games and the 2012 National League Cy Young Award with the New York Mets before going to the Blue Jays the following season.
Photo: AFP
Chad Girodo finished off Toronto’s third shutout of the season.
“He was tremendous. That was as good as I’ve seen him,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Dickey.
Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki each hit their seventh homers of the season for the Blue Jays.
Encarnacion led off the eighth against reliever Tom Wilhelmsen with his homer and then Justin Smoak doubled before Tulowitzki connected for his 200th career long ball to make it 5-0.
“It’s something that I’ll always remember and hopefully there’s much more to come,” Tulowitzki said.
Matt Bush made his major-league debut with a perfect ninth for the Rangers against the heart of Toronto’s order, seven months after getting released from a 3-1/2-year prison sentence for a drunk-driving incident that seriously injured a man.
It was 12 years after he was the No. 1 overall pick by his hometown San Diego Padres, when he was still a shortstop.
The Rangers signed the 30-year-old Bush to a minor-league contract in December last year and promoted him on Friday after only 12 relief appearances at Double-A Frisco.
He pitched against Toronto’s 2-3-4 hitters — Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Encarnacion — with several fastballs.
“It was pretty surreal, though, with those guys in the box. I like facing right-handers, so that was a good thing,” Bush said. “It felt really good to throw a couple pitches past those guys. That really boosts my confident. To have a scoreless outing the first time, it’s just amazing.”
In other games on Friday, it was:
Yankees 1, White Sox 7
Cubs 9, Pirates 4
Orioles 1, Tigers 0
Phillies 3, Reds 2
Astros 7, Red Sox 6
Rockies 5, Mets 2
Nationals 5, Marlins 3
Royals 5, Braves 1
Brewers 1, Padres 0
Indians 7, Twins 6
Athletics 6, Rays 3
Phillies 3, Reds 2
Dodgers 8, Cardinals 4
Angels 7, Mariners 6
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