ATLANTA -- Despite the uber-talented Giancarlo Stanton crushing two homers into the Earth's stratosphere, R.A. Dickey continued to provide the Braves with reasons to potentially pick up his $8 million club option at the end of the season.
Dickey battled back with six solid innings, allowing three runs in the Braves' 5-3 victory over the Marlins on Friday night. He moved easily through the Marlins' lineup, giving up Stanton's two taters and Adam Conley's single that added to the severity of the second homer.
"The thing that hurt me more than anything was the pitcher getting the hit," Dickey said. "I made a good pitch, and he put it in the right place, and that is baseball. Four guys got on base, and I can't ask for much better than that."
Stanton's solo shot in the fourth inning went a Statcast-projected 477 feet, making it the longest homer in SunTrust Park history. Prior to the homers, Dickey had only given up two long balls in his last eight starts.
"He is a specimen, and I was hoping for a little bit of success versus him," Dickey said. "Overall, I felt pretty good about the outing."

According to Statcast™, Dickey threw 71 knuckleballs on the night and got ahead in the count on 9-of-22 batters faced. His aggressiveness helped settle him into a groove, efficiently mixing in his secondary pitches.
"He had a good one going pretty much all day," Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said. "He also had a good command of his fastball when he needed a strike in there as well. All in all, it is exactly what we shoot for when we go out there."

Since giving up eight runs on June 13 against the Nationals, Dickey has gone 3-2 with a 2.22 ERA over his last nine starts. He also helped the Braves improve to 9-3 in games he starts at SunTrust Park. This season, Dickey owns a 3.30 home ERA in 12 outings.
"He was really good tonight and gave us some good innings," Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
With the victory, Dickey snapped a six-game winless streak. His last came on June 24 despite allowing just 10 earned runs in 36 2/3 innings during that stretch.
"I was just so impressed with not only Nick [Markakis] but the back part of our bullpen did a really great job," Dickey said. "It was a good team win."