There’s not really any wrong way to end a ten-game losing streak, but Charlie Morton and the Pirates managed to do it with some flair last night as Morton tossed eight shutout innings and the Pirates bounced back from nearly two solid weeks of losing by shutting out the NL West leading Giants by a score of 5-0 on the road in San Francisco.
Morton did last night exactly what he’s done all year: get right-handed hitters out and pray that lefties don’t hurt him too badly. This isn’t even a little bit of an exaggeration: Morton gave up six hits last night, all to left-handed batters. He walked three hitters, and all three were left-handed. If not for Brandon Wood’s throwing error on a Mark DeRosa ground ball in the eighth inning, Morton would’ve retired every single right-handed hitter he faced in San Francisco last night. Luckily for Morton, the only lefties the Giants had in the starting lineup last night were Andres Torres, Pablo Sandoval, and Aubrey Huff and with Sandoval going 0-for-4, Morton was able to limit the damage the lefties did to him pretty well. Still, he was nearly perfect against righties and put lefties on base nine times in eight innings.
That’s not anything new for Morton, either. Before the game even started, righties had a .522 OPS against Morton while lefties hit at a 1.012 clip. All five of his homers allowed this year have been to lefties. Twelve of his 20 doubles allowed have been to lefties, despite facing fewer lefties than righties. Same goes with walks allowed to lefties (35) compared with to righties (20).
There is some room for explanation for the huge splits. Morton’s primarily a sinkerballer and since sinkers from righties bust in on the hands of right-handed batters but away from lefties, lefties often have a bit of an advantage. Such a huge platoon split is pretty much unheard of, though, and it’s one of the reasons Morton’s been so up and down in 2011.
Getting righties out last night was all he needed to do to get a win, though, and both he and the Pirates are greateful for it.
Also last night: With the Giants’ loss, the Diamondbacks just needed a win to take first place in the NL West. They got pasted 9-1 by the Astros instead. Roy Halladay only lasted 6 1/3 innings against the Dodgers, but it was enough for the Phillies to record a 5-3 win. The Mets scored three in the bottom of the ninth to erase a two-run deficit against Heath Bell and the Padres. Last night’s full results are here.
Tonight’s games: There’s a full slate of action tonight, headlined by the opening of the Tigers/Indians’ series in Cleveland. The Indians are four back and need some wins to make the AL Central race close again. Tonight, Justin Masterson and Doug Fister take the mound. There’s a similar situation in St. Louis as the Brewers and Cardinals face off with the Cardinals four games back of the Brewers and needing a series win to draw the NL Central a bit tighter. Shaun Marcum and Edwin Jackson are on the mound in that one. Tonight’s full schedule is here.
