How rare was a seven-walk start by this Braves pitcher?

NEW YORK -- Charlie Morton issued a career-high seven walks and still produced the Braves’ best start in exactly a week.

Morton may have taken wildly-efficient to another level as the veteran right-hander constructed one of the most unique outings in baseball history and helped the Braves claim a 7-0 win over the Mets on Friday night at Citi Field.

“I think after three or four [walks] you think, ‘This is very embarrassing,’ but I still have the ball in my hands,” Morton said.

Morton issued all seven walks through the first four innings and recorded a strike with just 52 of his 105 pitches. Still, none of the 10 batters who reached safely against him even threatened to score.

In other words, Morton never gave in and got results when needed.

“I didn’t know he had that many walks,” said outfielder Eddie Rosario, who logged three RBIs in the series opener. “I thought it was two or three. That’s baseball.

"You can have a lot of strikeouts and have a great game, and still lose by one run. That’s how it goes.”

Actually, this is how it usually goes when these teams meet. The Braves have won 12 of the past 14 games played against the Mets going back to Aug. 15, 2022.

This wasn’t how manager Brian Snitker envisioned things might turn for Atlanta’s struggling rotation, but the results were exactly what his team needed. The Braves entered Friday with MLB’s second-worst starter’s ERA (6.15) since the All-Star break.

So, maybe this outing will aid the rotation like a seeing-eye single helps a slumping hitter or lineup.

“On some basis, we all have our things in this game that maybe get us going,” Snitker said.

Bryce Elder and Yonny Chirinos were the only Braves starters to complete at least five innings over the team’s past six games. Chirinos allowed four homers and six runs over five innings on Tuesday. Elder allowed five earned runs over five innings on Thursday.

So, yeah, Morton did construct the Braves’ best start in a week as he worked around seven walks and three hits over five scoreless innings. Keeping with the unexpected theme, much of his support came from Rosario, who highlighted a two-hit night with a fourth-inning single that scored three runs with the help of a Brandon Nimmo error.

Rosario entered the game having hit .172 with a .502 OPS in 93 plate appearances since July 1.

“The guys put up a lot of runs, even though they had to do a lot of standing around out there,” Morton said.

So, how unique was Morton’s outing?

• Morton became the 11th starting pitcher in AL/NL history to issue seven-plus walks over exactly five scoreless innings. He is the first Braves pitcher to successfully complete this trick.

• Morton became the eighth Braves pitcher to issue seven-plus walks over five-plus scoreless innings. The two most recently to do this were Damian Moss (7 IP vs. St. Louis, May 3, 2002) and Phil Niekro (5 IP vs. Pittsburgh, Sept. 3, 1983).

• Morton became the third pitcher to not allow a run while throwing 105 or more pitches with 52 or fewer strikes. The previous two: the Rays’ Casey Fossum 6 IP, 5 BB, 106 pitches /51 strikes on April 28, 2006, and the Pirates’ Ron Kline 5 IP, 9 BB, 114 pitches/50 strikes on June 5, 1952.

“I just got away with a lot,” Morton said. “There were some quick outs on pitches that weren’t great. I started to feel my delivery in my arm slot a little better towards the end, but by then, I’d already been really sloppy.”

Morton’s ability to at least attempt to get an out in the sixth proved significant given these two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday. The Braves will give Allan Winans his second career start in the opener and then hand the ball to Spencer Strider in the nightcap.

Exactly how Snitker will navigate through the twin bill remains to be seen. He certainly didn’t want to think about it after stressing through Friday’s win. Asked when left-hander Dylan Lee might return to help, the veteran manager made it clear he was tired.

“I don’t have any clue about Dylan Lee,” Snitker said. “I just got done going through nine walks and trying to win this game. Dylan Lee is the furthest thing from my mind.”