The Juice is back for its fifth season of fun! Stop by each weekday for an ample serving of news from the action, plus great photos, stats and video highlights.
Dickey dominates: Even if Matt Cain hadn't made history in San Francisco, Wednesday was still full of so much good pitching that it was almost impossible to keep up on MLB Extra Innings.
Dominating the headlines before Cain barged his way through was R.A. Dickey. The 37-year-old knuckleballer ran his shutout streak to a franchise-record 32 2/3 innings in a dominant 9-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Dickey's game score was a 95, earned through allowing only one infield single to B.J. Upton — there's some debate on whether it was an error — and striking out 12 batters. He did not issue a single walk in becoming the first pitcher to reach 10 wins.
'' If anybody deserved a no-hitter or a perfect game tonight, it was him,'' Mets manager Terry Collins said.
Collins, of course, said that before Cain became just the 22nd pitcher in history to throw a perfect game by mowing down 27 straight Houston Astros, but Dickey will be deserving of plenty more if he keeps harnessing the power of the knuckler this way until early July. Right now he's probably sitting with Cain and Atlanta's Brandon Beachy on the short list for All-Star Game start consideration.
Battle at Busch: A Carlos Beltran homer was the lone mistake that Chicago's Jake Peavy allowed on Wednesday. But it was one homer too many as Lance Lynn and the Cardinals dealt the White Sox a 1-0 loss that was light on offense but heavy on pitching. Lynn struck out a career-high 12 batters and became the second pitcher to reach 10 wins, not long after Dickey did it. Could the Lamarr Hoyt doppelganger work his way into the talk for an All-Star Game talk? The truth is that he's probably already in there.
One more: Completing a trifecta of fun shutouts to watch was Texas' 1-0 win over Arizona. Though the D-Backs' Wade Miley (7.2 IP, 8K, 3H) outpitched the Rangers' Matt Harrison (7.1 IP, 3K, 6H), it was the latter who received the lone tally of run support. Craig Gentry singled home Mike Napoli in the eighth for what would be the winning run.
Into the ivy: It wasn't quite Gregor Blanco hanging onto a perfect game, but Detroit's Austin Jackson made a great catch in Wrigley Field to euthanize a growing Cubs' threat against Jose Valveder and clinch an 8-4 win for the Tigers.
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Quote of the Day:
''I did? Is that a club out there? Let's go there now then.''
— Boston's David Ortiz after learning his homer landed in The Clevelander bat in the left field area of Marlins Park. The homer helped the Red Sox to a 10-2 win.
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Photo of the Day: Kings of the Ravine
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Three facts for the water cooler
• Baltimore's Jake Arrieta didn't know he was starting Wednesday's game against Pittsburgh until 3:30. He did a heck of a job filling in for Brian Matusz, though, striking out nine over seven innings in a 7-1 win over the Pirates.
• The Nationals went unbeaten on their first six-game road trip since arriving in Montreal with a 6-2 win in Toronto. The last time the franchise went 6-0 on a road swing was in 1998 when the Expos staged a perfect march through Houston and Atlanta.
• With a 3-2 win over the Braves on Wednesday, the Yankees have won 14 of their last 16 games in Atlanta, a run that includes the 1996 and 1999 World Series.
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