Pirates management has announced that Charlie Morton will start in Tuesday's series opener against the Red Sox at PNC Park. "We'll get Charlie the ball on Tuesday. See where he can take that and evaluate afterwards on where we go next," said manager Clint Hurdle. Morton has been on the DL since 8/17 with a "sports hernia", but has continued a throwing program which includes bullpen sessions and a simulated game to remain available in case he was needed. Morton is 5-12 with a 3.84 ERA in ... Read More
Pirates Gameday 8/20: Morton diagnosed with a “sports hernia”, Hurdle discusses Travis Snider
Good afternoon from PNC Park where the Pirates (64-62) look to salvage a game from the Braves (66-60). Gerrit Cole (7-4, 3.78 ERA) will be making his first start since early July as he faces Alex Wood (9-9, 3.07 ERA). The Pirates begin the day 7 games behind the Brewers (71-55) for first in the NL Central, 4 1/2 games behind the Cardinals (68-57) for the first NL Wild Card spot and 2 games behind the Giants (65-59) and Braves (66-60) for the second NL Wild Card spot. Injury Update Charlie ... Read More
Big inning sinks Pirates
Charlie Morton gave up another big inning as the Padres defeated the Pirates 8-2 to take another series at PNC Park on Sunday afternoon. The big inning came in the fifth with the Pirates leading 2-1 after a Gregory Polanco 2-run home run in the first. With runners on first and second with two out, Morton hit Yangervis Solarte to load the bases. Seth Smith then came up and cleared the bases with a triple off the left field wall to make it 4-2 Padres. He then scored on a wild pitch. "It was ... Read More
Pirates pen falters in 6-3 loss
Charlie Morton put together his strongest start since the 2nd of July, but the Pirate bullpen imploded allowing the Marlins to take the first game of the eight-game homestand 6-3 on Tuesday night. Morton went seven strong innings after working out of two jams. With runners on first and second with one out in the second, Morton induced a fly out and a ground out to end the inning. He worked out of another jam in the fourth after the Marlins tied things at one. With runners on the corners, ... Read More
Polanco Leads Pirates Over Diamondbacks 5-1
Pittsburgh-- Charlie Morton pitched six innings of one-run ball and Gregory Polanco hit his third career home run as the Pirates defeated the Diamondbacks 5-1 on Wednesday night. The Pirates (44-40) got off to a fast start in the first against Diamondbacks starter Chase Anderson when Gregory Polanco hit a double off the Clemente Wall. The ball was misplayed by Gerardo Parra allowing Polanco to reach third. Starling Marte then knocked him in with a groundout to short. The Pirates added on ... Read More
Price Outduels Morton as Rays Salvage Game from Pirates
Charlie Morton's rough first inning proved costly as David Price went 8 1/3 strong to defeat the Pirates 5-1 on Wednesday afternoon. Morton didn't have the most adequate start allowing three runs in the first. Desmond Jennings led off the game for the Rays with a single and quickly scored as Ben Zobrist followed with a RBI triple that was misplayed by Andrew McCutchen. Zobrist then scored on a fielding error by Jordy Mercer. The Rays got their third run of the inning off of a Kevin Kiermaier ... Read More
Pirates Power Past Cubs 6-2
Charlie Morton received an extra day of rest since his previous start and it seemed to pay off as the righty pitched seven strong innings as the Pirates got the series-opening victory over the Cubs 6-2. Morton allowed one run on six hits -- two of which didn't go past the pitchers mound-- over his seven innings of work while striking out seven. The only Cubs run came in the sixth when Anthony Rizzo singled off of the glove of a diving Jordy Mercer with two out. Starlin Castro followed with a ... Read More
Mercer Leads Bucs to 10-3 Win Over Padres
Jordy Mercer's 4-for-5 night paced a high-powered Pirate offense as the black and gold posted 16 hits in a 10-3 drubbing of the San Diego Padres on Monday night. Mercer -- 4-for-5 with a HR, 3 1B, BB, 2 RBI and 4 runs -- started the scoring in the third inning off of Padres starter Tim Stauffer with an upper-deck solo home run to left. The Pirates then loaded the bases allowing Ike Davis to hit a sac fly to make it 2-0. Stauffer followed that by walking Russell Martin chasing him from the game ... Read More
Pirates Can’t Get to Colon, Lose 5-0
Bartolo Colon continued his effectiveness against the Pirates throwing 7 1/3 strong shutout innings in a Mets 5-0 victory over the Bucs on Wednesday afternoon. Colon struck out nine Pirates while allowing only five hits over 121 pitches as the Mets bullpen has been overused in the past couple days. The only real threat came in the eighth as Colon began to fatigue with the Mets up 3-0. Josh Harrison led the inning off with a deep fly to center that was tracked down by Mets centerfielder ... Read More
Morton Avoids the Big Inning, Pirates Win 4-3
Charlie Morton continued where Edinson Volquez left off last night with 5 2/3 innings of five-hit, one-run ball and Pedro Alvarez hit a two-run homer in the Pirates 4-3 victory over the Nationals on Friday night. Morton avoided the big inning three times on the night in the first, third and sixth. In the first, he walked back-to-back batters with two out before getting a groundout. In the third he got a double play ball with runners on the corners and one out and in the sixth with the bases ... Read More