{"id":74881,"date":"2024-05-30T11:03:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T15:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=74881"},"modified":"2024-05-30T11:06:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T15:06:38","slug":"tim-wakefield-r-a-dickey-knuckleballers-mlb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/30\/tim-wakefield-r-a-dickey-knuckleballers-mlb\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Dominant Knuckleballer Games Since 2000"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Knuckleballers are a rare breed. The pitch that made legends like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wilheho01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hoyt Wilhelm<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wakefti01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tim Wakefield<\/a> famous is so hard to control most pitchers shy away from the pitch. With so much emphasis on spin rate and velocity, it makes sense that there is little priority on learning how to master the knuckleball. Tuesday night, San Diego&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/waldrma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Waldron<\/a> chalked up eight strikeouts, using the knuckleball as the third strike all eight times. Even more impressive was Waldron&#8217;s zero walks. So, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">where<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> does last night&#8217;s game rank in the most dominant knuckleballer games since 2000?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">7 scoreless innings and 8 Ks from Matt Waldron tonight. \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qBQ8kCvpoY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/qBQ8kCvpoY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB (@MLB) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB\/status\/1795664442765816263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Most Dominant Knuckleballer Games Since 2000<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Matt Waldron vs Atlanta Braves <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">May 17th<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, 2024<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Matt Waldron faced a dangerous Atlanta Braves team earlier this May.\u00a0 Waldron rang up 10 Braves batters, including the hot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/ozunama01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcell Ozuna<\/a> twice, through just 5.2 innings pitched. The former Cornhusker only issues two free passes. Five of Waldron&#8217;s ten strikeouts came with a knuckleball on the third strike. At some point during each strikeout, Waldron utilized his knuckleball.\u00a0 The right-handed pitcher only gave up one run en route to a 3-1 win.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wrighst01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Wright<\/a> vs Los Angeles Dodgers <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">August 5th<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, 2016<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It should <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">come as<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> no surprise that Wright&#8217;s lone All-Star season is the same year he had his most dominant performance. Squaring off against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kazmisc01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott Kazmir<\/a> and the second-place Dodgers, the former Rainbow Warrior took the mound for the Boston Red Sox. Steven Wright scattered three hits over his complete game shutout. Wright gave up a double to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/turneju01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Justin Turner<\/a> in the first inning and would not give up another hit until the ninth. He struck out nine batters to his one walk while cruising to his 13th <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">victory of the season<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Wright utilized his knuckleball in all nine of his strikeouts.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tim Wakefield vs New York Yankees <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">September 11th<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, 2005<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">2005 was a prime year for the Yankees\/Red Sox rivalry. This Sunday day game was a pitcher&#8217;s duel between New York&#8217;s Hall of Famer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=johnsra05,johnsra03,johnsra04&amp;search=Randy+Johnson&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Randy Johnson<\/a> and Boston <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">knuckleballer<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Tim Wakefield. The 55,000+ at Yankee Stadium saw<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0these two legends pitch their A games as the season dwindled to October. After getting the first two outs in the first inning, Wakefield gave up a solo home run to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/giambja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Giambi<\/a>. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> ended up being the only run <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">that Wakefield<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> gave up through an eight-inning complete game. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> was also the only run the Yankees would need to get the win. Despite only giving up three hits and one walk <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Wakefield<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> would be the losing pitcher this day.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/10\/01\/tim-wakefield-passes-away\/\" target=\"_self\">Wakefield<\/a> struck out 13 Yankees in one of the most dominating complete game losses you can pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Tim Wakefield, Knuckleball (Slow\/HP view). <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YCID459Dyk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/YCID459Dyk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PitchingNinja\/status\/1073938051192274946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 15, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dicker.01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">R.A. Dickey<\/a> vs Baltimore Orioles <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">June 18th<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, 2012<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The 2012 National League <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngcy01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cy Young<\/a> winner had <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">lots of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> bright spots during his breakout season with the Mets.\u00a0 R.A. Dickey would lead the league in strikeouts, complete games, shutouts, and innings pitched in 2012. Of his 20 wins during 2012, one stood out among the rest.\u00a0 After <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">pitching<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a complete game one-hitter on <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">June 13th<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, the 6&#8217;3 Knuckleballer from Tennessee would <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/05\/31\/top-10-greatest-pitched-games-in-new-york-mets-history\/\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">take the mound again<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> just five days later. Facing a Baltimore team that was second in the AL East <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">at the time<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, R.A. Dickey would take the mound for the Metropolitans in Queens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Dickey would serve <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">up<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a heavy dose of knuckleballs to the O&#8217;s and carry a no-hitter to the fifth inning. Wilson Betemit singled on a line drive to right field after striking out Matt Wieters and Mark Reynolds using exclusively knuckleballs<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> With the score knotted up at <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">zero&#8217;s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> headed into the bottom of the 6th. Dickey led off the inning with a single off <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/arrieja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Arrieta<\/a> <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">helping<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> his cause. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valdejo02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordany Valdespin<\/a> doubled, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dudalu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lucas Duda<\/a> walked, bringing up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=davisik02,davisik01&amp;search=Ike+Davis&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ike Davis<\/a>.\u00a0 Davis hit the first pitch he saw off <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Arrieta over the center field wall for a grand slam. Those four runs would be all Dickey needed for his 11th win of the season.\u00a0 Dickey struck out 13 Orioles to his two walks and the lone hit to Betemit, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">completing<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> arguably the most dominant game pitched by a knuckleballer since 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: <em>Kris Craig\/Providence Journal \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Knuckleballers are a rare breed. The pitch that made legends like Hoyt Wilhelm and Tim Wakefield famous is so hard to control most pitchers shy away from the pitch. With so much emphasis on spin rate and velocity, it makes sense that there is little priority on learning how to master the knuckleball. Tuesday night, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5131,"featured_media":74995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,4,22,5],"tags":[221,523,2187,398,6267],"class_list":["post-74881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-redsox","category-mets","category-yankees","tag-marcell-ozuna","tag-r-a-dickey","tag-randy-johnson","tag-steven-wright","tag-tim-wakefield"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}