R.A. Dickey, who seems to be on the right track after a rocky beginning to the season, had his stuff working in the Toronto Blue Jays' 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox yesterday, but had to leave the game prematurely due to neck and back soreness.
Dickey was outdueling White Sox ace Chris Sale Thursday night, going six shutout innings, giving up just two hits and one walk while striking out seven batters. "I had a knuckleball tonight where I would have thrown a complete game," Dickey said, "so it was unfortunate that (the injury) acted up on me." White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers was baffled by the amount of movement on Dickey's signature pitch, saying "For me it was kind of like someone turned off the lights every couple feet as it was coming to you," Flowers said. "It was moving that much, at least the ones to me were."
Early in the season, teams tend to be careful with injury concerns to high-profile players, and this game was no exception. After the game Dickey said, "There was no reason to push it," Dickey said of his soreness. "We had a lead and it had progressively gotten a little bit worse throughout the game."
Manager John Gibbons does not think the injury is too serious and expects Dickey to make his next start. "He's a tough guy," Gibbons said. "I'm sure we'll see him in five days." The Blue Jays ace said he first felt discomfort last Saturday against the Royals, but he was able to go another one and one third innings with it. "It got better over the course of the week, enough so that I felt comfortable taking the ball," he said. "Hopefully it will continue to get better in between these starts."
Edwin Encarnacion, Munenori Kawasaki and Rajai Davis all drove in runs to key Toronto's offense in the victory.
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