Morton hit hard in Houston homecoming
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HOUSTON -- The night began with the Astros showing a one-minute tribute video for Charlie Morton, who shined in his two seasons in Houston and recorded the final out of the 2017 World Series, a moment that stands alone in Astros history.
Morton, who was warming up on the outfield grass during the video, tipped his cap multiple times and thanked the fans in attendance, most of whom were on their feet as they greeted their former All-Star.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced anything like that before. I guess nothing really prepares you for it,” Morton said about his return to Houston. “The video? Classy. Classy.”
Unfortunately for Morton and the Rays, the night didn’t end so gracefully. The right-hander struggled with his command in his return to Houston as the Rays were blown out in the series opener against the Astros, 15-1, on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.
Morton admitted that he fought through emotions after the tribute video, but he said that it didn’t play a part in his performance.
Morton faced the minimum through the first two frames, but the outing began to take a turn when he allowed back-to-back walks to Abraham Toro and Robinson Chirinos to begin the third inning.
Following the walks, Josh Reddick opened the scoring with a bloop double to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Then, after loading the bases with nobody out, Morton was able to escape the inning having allowed just two runs after throwing 26 pitches.
But the misfortunes continued in the fourth inning, as the Houston offense flexed its muscles against its old teammate. The Astros hit for the team cycle in the inning against Morton, highlighted by a projected 431-foot two-run home run by Chirinos to give Houston a commanding 6-0 lead.
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“Like [for] sentimental reasons, it would’ve been nice to come back in here and pitch and keep the team competitive, and we would battle it out and all that,” Morton said. “But I really wanted to come in here for my team and keep them in the game and go deep into the game, and I didn’t do either of those things. That’s what’s important to me.”
The Rays' offense was unable to get anything going against Justin Verlander, who tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings before being ejected by home-plate umpire Pat Hoberg after Tommy Pham recorded his second double of the night. Joey Wendle recorded the only run for the Rays with a solo home run in the seventh inning off Brad Peacock.
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Morton has been able to provide the Rays length in most of his starts this season, but that wasn’t the case on Tuesday. The right-hander pitched just four innings, tying his shortest outing of the season, and allowed six runs on seven hits and two free passes.
“You’ve got to give credit to Houston’s lineup, their approach is solid,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “There are so many times you can go through a baseball game and see how many times a pitcher gives them a hittable pitch and it doesn’t get hit. It seemed like every time Charlie threw a ball they could handle, they certainly did and made us pay for it.”
Perhaps the most telling stat about Morton’s outing was the fact that despite striking out four and recording his 200th strikeout of the campaign, he recorded just two swings and misses on 77 pitches, his fewest in any start this season. Morton credited the low swing-and-miss number to the lack of mixing with his pitch selection and location.
“We obviously have a lot of background with him as a teammate, and we knew a little bit about how he was going to pitch,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “He pitched a little differently than even we would have expected a little bit. You have to find a pitch to hit. I thought we challenged him early. I think we stayed with him. We had a couple of big hits. … We just continued to put pressure on him with really good at-bats.”
The night didn’t get any better for the rest of the Rays’ pitching staff, as Andrew Kittredge and Chaz Roe also struggled. The 15 runs were the most allowed by the Rays this season, and it marked the sixth time in the past eight games that they allowed six or more.
With the Rays facing a crucial week against the Astros and the Indians, they’re going to have to find a way to bounce back quickly from what ended up being one of their ugliest losses of the season.
“We knew coming in we had our hands full today,” Cash said. “The good thing about the game is you can lose a game like that and come back and try to win a close game tomorrow.”