Baltimore Orioles vs. Toronto Blue Jays WATCH FREE: Live Streaming Online: Baseball from Rogers Centre at 7:07 PM ET, Will R.A. Dickey Get Bombed, Again?
The Blue Jays had hoped R.A. Dickey would be in for a bounce-back year after a disappointing first season with the club. So far, however, 2014 has been even worse.
A matchup Tuesday night with the Orioles could be trouble for the struggling knuckleballer given the more patient approach by some of Baltimore's top sluggers.
Dickey (1-3, 6.26 ERA) has given up at least five runs in all three losses. He needed 112 pitches to get through a season-worst 4 1/3 innings in a 7-0 defeat at Minnesota on Thursday with all five runs charged against him coming in the fifth.
The right-hander also issued five walks and is averaging 5.9 per nine innings after entering the season with a 2.8 career rate.
"It's been moving an awful lot, more so than I've seen in the past even, so I think that's a contributing factor to the walks," catcher Josh Thole said of Dickey's knuckeball.
Figuring things out versus the Orioles could prove to be difficult after Dickey was 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in three starts against them last season. He surrendered five homers and 10 walks in 18 2/3 innings.
Toronto (10-9), which returns home from a 5-4 trip, meets a Baltimore (9-9) squad that salvaged a four-game split in Boston with a 7-6 victory Monday.
After leading the majors with 212 home runs last season, the Orioles are homerless in five of their last six games but are batting .290 during that stretch. Their 10 home runs this season are the second-fewest in baseball.
Jose Reyes was 2 for 5 in his second game since returning from a strained left hamstring suffered in the season opener. He's hit safely in 14 of 15 career games versus Baltimore with seven doubles.
Jose Bautista has reached base in all 19 games this season, while Melky Cabrera has recorded at least one hit in all but one contest with a .563 slugging percentage.
The game will be live streaming online at gofirstrowus.eu/sport/baseball.html
