Pirates Charlie Morton Takes Care of Business
By Tom Smith
“The RPM’s are ramped up,” Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has a nice way of saying that Charlie Morton has added velocity to his electric stuff. The first pitch that Morton threw hit the Reds lead off hitter. The rest of his outing Morton was spot on.
He was probably spot on with his first pitch too.
After the game, Hurdle wouldn’t speak directly to the beanballs the Reds and the Pirates have traded in their games this season.
"When teams wanna play hard and want to compete, it’s not just at the plate, its on the basepaths. We have to do things we have never done before to get to where we want to go. Hurdle"
Well, it’s not exactly trading, the Reds have been hit ten times. Leadoff hitter Shoo has been hit six times. The Bucs have been hit six times.
But this game was about Charlie Morton. The Bucs right hander said this after the game…
"I got ground balls and a few hard hit balls right at people."
Morton’s fastball velocity is up. [FanGraphs chart at the bottom of the post] Morton addressed it in the postgame with this quote.
"I hadn’t played baseball for so long. I mean I threw a little bit."
In his last three games at Great American Ballpark, Electric Stuff has two complete games to add up to an ERA of 0.39 with 10 strikeouts and four walks.
"The two complete games were just good. But here, I got some weak contact and the few times they hit it hard, I had guys making great plays behind me. I wouldn’t look at all three outings like it is the park. I would look at them individually.I feel like I spray balls here and there. Some go places I wouldn’t have thought they would have gone. Control is good…considering. To me it seems like to be more consistent in the misses. For me, it’s those one or two that get away."
And the one that hit exactly the right spot Charlie?
"Yeh, it just got away, said Morton."
Shoo-t.