R.A. Dickey extended his strong pitching form with a record-breaking one-hit performance that gave him a Major League-leading 10th win in the New York Mets' 9-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.
With a performance that highlighted Dickey's recent dominance, the 37-year-old set a Mets franchise-record with 32 2/3 successive scoreless innings, which was only snapped in the ninth inning on Wednesday.
Jerry Koosman had a 31 2/3 scoreless innings streak for the Mets in 1973.
"To be mentioned in the same sentence as that guy is pretty special," Dickey told reporters. "I had a good knuckleball and it was going really well. It makes for a fun night when you're throwing a lot of strikes."
Dickey (10-1) allowed a first-inning hit to the Rays before retiring 22 consecutive batters, finally surrendering an unearned run in the ninth of a complete-game performance that included 12 strikeouts.
The Mets have said they will appeal Tampa's hit in the first inning, which saw David Wright mishandle a ground ball that could have been called an error.
"It looked like a tough play," Dickey said. "David has made that play quite a bit but it kind of bounced off his palm."
It was the second consecutive blasting New York (34-29) had handed Tampa Bay (35-27) in their three-game series as their offense scored three runs in the fifth and four in the sixth to punish Rays' starter David Price.
Price allowed seven runs to fall to 8-4 on the season as Tampa Bay fell two games behind the New York Yankees for first in the American League East.
Andres Torres recorded three of the Mets' 14 hits, while Wright added a two-RBI double in the ninth.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Greg Stutchbury/Patrick Johnston)
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