Dickey, Blue Jays lose another home opener

TORONTO – The third time was not the charm for R.A. Dickey and the Toronto Blue Jays. Dickey lost his third consecutive home opener, the Blue Jays’ fourth overall, falling 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays in a dull game on Monday night.

Dickey’s command of his knuckleball was fleeting as he struck out six over six innings but also hit a batter and walked five more, including walking in both runs with the bases loaded. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays offence had no answer for Rays starter Jake Odorizzi who pitched a gem going eight innings with just one run on two hits.

The Rays did all their damage in the fourth when Dickey gave up two singles and walked three batters.

“I lost my release point a little bit in the fourth, and they did a really good job of laying off some close pitches,” Dickey said. “I didn’t make the big pitch when I had to… I hold myself responsible.”

The Blue Jays didn’t give up a hit after the fourth inning, including two shutout innings by rookie reliever Roberto Osuna, but couldn’t claw their way back against Odorizzi. “Good crowd, we just couldn’t get anything going offensively,” manager John Gibbons said. “Two runs (against) is pretty good, you’d take that any day and expect to win.”

The Blue Jays threatened to rally in the ninth when Jose Bautista led off with a walk. But then he inexplicably took off for second just as Edwin Encarnacion was striking out. The double play snuffed out any hope of a comeback.

The Blue Jays announced another sellout crowd of 48,414, and unlike years past when drunkenness and fighting in the crowd made bigger headlines than the game, there was as little excitement in the stands as on the field. On other noticeable change at the Rogers Centre this year is new artificial turf. Visually it looks better than in years past but it is softer and, on the first night at least, had a noticeable effect on groundballs.

“There were a couple balls hit tonight that might have scooted through on the old turf,” Dickey said. “If anything I think it’s going to allow the infielders to make more plays this year. It will impact the game.”

On this double by Kevin Pillar in the fifth inning, watch how the ball barely rolls away after bouncing on the turf:

The loss was the first game of a 10-game home stand for the Blue Jays who started the season with six games on the road. The Blue Jays have been slow starters in April over the last two years, but a good start is even more important in 2015 given that 19 of their first 22 games are against AL East opponents.

“We have a lot of things to be optimistic about. Sometimes you just have to give credit to the other guy,” Dickey said.

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Ian Denomme is an editor and writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at denomme@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter.