Rangers Shut Out By Blue Jays
ARLINGTON, Texas — Veteran right-hander R.A. Dickey retired 14 straight Texas hitters and the Toronto offense got going late as the Blue Jays shut down the Rangers 5-0 on Friday night.
Dickey allowed just three singles, including a bunt to leadoff hitter Rougned Odor, in eight innings.
“Tonight, I was changing speeds on my delivery, using it as a different weapon, and I felt like that was effective,” Dickey said. “I threw a lot of strikes. And when I’ve filling up the strike zone with a knuckleball, it’s hard for anybody, and I’m usually my best when I’m doing that, and tonight was reflective of that.”
Dickey got the offense he needed in the sixth inning when Troy Tulowitzki scored Jose Bautista with a fielder’s-choice grounder off Martin Perez (1-3). The Jays gave Dickey (2-4) another run in the seventh when Darwin Barney scored on a wild pitch.
Toronto blew the game open in a more conventional fashion in the eighth. Edwin Encarnacion ripped a solo homer off Texas reliever Tom Wilhelmsen before Tulowitzki added a two-run blast.
“It’s definitely pretty cool,” Tulowitzki said after hitting his 200th career
home run. “I don’t know of too many shortstops that can say that. It’s something that I’ll always remember and hopefully there’s much more to come. The most important thing is that we won the game.”
Dickey, who hadn’t won since his first start of the season, sparkled against the team that drafted him.
Texas had just one runner in scoring position against Dickey. He struck out six and walked one. He didn’t allow a baserunner after Adrian Beltre singled to right with one out in the fourth. Chad Girodo pitched a perfect ninth to finish off Texas, which has now been shut out twice this season.
“It looked like he had a pretty good knuckleball tonight,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “Those guys are always challenging when they can keep the knuckleball moving.”
Perez allowed one earned run in 6 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits, walked three and struck out three.
Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders each had two hits for Toronto and Tulowitzki knocked in three runs.
Rangers right-hander Matt Bush, who was called up from Double-A Frisco on Friday, pitched the ninth in his major-league debut. The first overall pick in the 2004 draft who spent time in prison retired the side in order.
“I think the crowd gave me chills out there when it got really loud when they introduced my name, and I think everything just hit me,” Bush said. “I was just focused on trying to be myself out there and continuing to do what I did in Double-A.
“It was pretty surreal, though, with those guys in the box. I like facing right-handers, so that was a good thing. 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.”
Both Dickey and Perez dominated the early innings, as each pitcher allowed just three hits through five innings.
Toronto had the best scoring chance on a two-out double from Smoak in the fourth, but Perez got a grounder from Tulowitzki to end the threat.
