Mets' Dickey spiked while covering 1st base

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – New York Mets starter R.A. Dickey needed two stitches in his right heel after being spiked Sunday in a 9-2 loss to a split squad of Detroit Tigers.

Dickey was covering first base when Corey Jones stepped on him in the third inning. Dickey stayed in the game and left after the fourth, allowing one run and three hits.

Prince Fielder hit a long home run, his third of the spring for the Tigers.

While most of his teammates struggled with Dickey's knuckleball, Fielder connected his second time up. He sent a drive deep to right field, where it landed on the canopy of the pavilion behind the berm and bounced into a marsh.

"Dickey has a really good knuckleball," Fielder said. "For me, his knuckleball is not the normal one. It's faster, so I try to look at it more as a cutter because if you wait too long it cuts in or sinks away."

"I just try not to let it beat me too much. I definitely want to hit it more out front," he said.

James McCann hit a grand slam during a seven-run burst in the sixth.

Ike Davis and Lucas Duda singled for the Mets' only hits.