Dickey hurt by the long ball
Padres avoid getting swept with 8-4 victory at Rogers Centre.
Adam Rosales hit a two-run homer, one of three San Diego long balls on the day, and the Padres avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-4, in interleague baseball play Wednesday afternoon.
Brett Wallace drove in a pair with a home run and a single and Alex Dickerson also went deep for the Padres (44-58), who scored in four consecutive innings to hand R.A. Dickey his third straight loss.
Christian Bethancourt was two for four with two doubles and an RBI and Luis Perdomo (5-4) got the win after allowing four runs on six hits, two walks and four strikeouts through 5 2/3 innings.
Dickey (7-12) gave up seven runs — six earned — on four hits, including two homers, four walks and a hit batter. He also struck out five over 5 2/3 innings.
Kevin Pillar had a two-run double, Darwin Barney hit a sacrifice fly, and Ezequiel Carrera drove in one for the Blue Jays (57-45).
Wednesday’s game started just over 12 hours after Toronto’s 12th inning walk-off victory on Tuesday night. Regulars Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin and Michael Saunders were given the day off.
Melvin Upton Jr., who was acquired by Toronto in a trade with San Diego on Tuesday, was in the starting lineup batting fourth and playing left field. Joaquin Benoit, acquired late Tuesday night from Seattle in exchange Drew Storen, pitched a scoreless ninth with two walks and two strikeouts.
Dickey started strong, facing the minimum three batters in the first despite a one-out walk to Wil Myers. He picked off Myers, his fourth pickoff of the season, to tie him for first in the majors with seven other pitchers.
The knuckleballer enjoyed another three-up three-down inning in the second, but his luck stopped there as San Diego managed runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
Rosales homered to left-centre field after a hit by pitch to Wallace to give the Padres a 2-0 lead in the third, and sloppy defence gave way to two more San Diego runs in the fourth. Dickey issued a twoout walk to Ryan Schimpf, who came around to score on a double from Bethancourt and an error on Pillar. Bethancourt then scored on a throwing error to Devon Travis.
Wallace led off the fifth by launching a 2-2 knuckleball over the right-field wall for a 5-0 lead. The homer was the 112th allowed by Dickey since he became a Blue Jay in 2013.
Attendance at Rogers Centre was 47,301.