Morton trying again today to slam brakes on starting slump

DETROIT – Charlie Morton is having trouble with the curve.

Game 2 of today’s split doubleheader against the Tigers presents Morton with another opportunity to spin his season in the right direction. He’s gone 0-5 with a 10.89 ERA and 2.226 WHIP in 20 2/3 innings, and the Orioles can’t promise an extended run of starts.

The opponent could provide the cure. Morton hasn’t allowed an earned run to the Tigers in his last 23 2/3 innings, one of the longest streaks against them since 1995, according to STATS. It began in May 2017 and has continued through June 2023. Derek Lowe owns the longest stretch in the Wild Card era at 33 1/3, followed by Mariano Rivera (27 2/3), Jamie Moyer (27), Jon Garland (26) and Sean Lowe (24).

Morton will grasp onto any possible advantage. He’s the third pitcher to go 0-5 with a 10.00 ERA in his first five appearances with a team, per STATS. Jeff Weaver lost his first five starts and posted a 15.35 ERA with the Mariners in 2007 and Jason Marquis was 0-5 with a 14.33 ERA with the Nationals in 2010.

In five starts since signing for $15 million, Morton has allowed 31 hits and 25 runs with 15 walks in 20 2/3 innings. He hadn’t allowed four-plus earned runs in his first five starts in his previous 17 major league seasons, and his 10.89 ERA is the highest over any five-game span in a minimum 20 innings. It’s also the second-highest in a pitcher’s first five starts with the Orioles after Ty Blach’s 11.32 ERA in 2019.

Identifying the main culprit is the easy part for Morton. Solving it is the challenge.

Morton’s curveball had a run value of +21 in 2023, per Baseball Savant. The only pitches with a higher value were Gerrit Cole’s four-seam fastball, Zac Gallen’s four-seamer, Logan Webb’s changeup and Chris Bassitt’s sinker. Quite simply and to the point, it’s one of the best pitches in baseball. But opponents are hitting .400 against the curve this season and slugging .800, compared to .200 and .309 last summer and .177 and .258 in 2023. His putaway percentage is down to 14.8 percent and whiff percentage to 30.9. His hard-hit percentage is up to 57.9.

Sunday’s outing was, he hopes, rock bottom. Morton was charged with seven runs in 2 1/3 innings in a 24-2 loss to the Reds. He’s done his usual side work, watched video, talked to the pitching coaches and instructors, and doesn’t know whether it can transfer to tonight’s start.

“I wouldn’t say I feel better or worse,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever really judged myself going into a start based on how my side went. I think maybe if I was tinkering with something or trying to work on something and kind of seeing if I could feel the adjustment and feel the change, but I think really just getting more consistent with my release and the way I’m throwing the ball.

“For me, it’s more just inconsistencies. It’s not like I have to change my arm slot or I have to change my, name it. It’s been three weeks. If something was glaring, it would have shown up in spring training. Something glaring probably would have shown up last year. I think it’s being more consistent with a good delivery, with the good timing and the good release and the good shapes to my pitches. And I think part two is, when I’m evaluating the difficulties, it just seems like a lot of the difficulties have come after bad counts and walks, right? My biggest troubles for me, at least what I think, is I get out of sync, I get out of whack, and then guys get on and I give up an extra-base hit or I give up a homer. I think that’s pretty much where all the damage has come. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s how I feel.

“I don’t think it’s really coming from the windup as much. I don’t think that the contact is as good out of the windup. I think the majority of it is just coming out of the stretch and it’s like, why is that happening? I think it’s more like, stay in your delivery and try to keep your timing right and just make good pitches and throw the ball correctly out of the stretch, regardless of the circumstance. It’s not like all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Oh, we’re not getting good results, so I’m gonna start throwing underhand.’”

Morton also said it’s fine to do some tinkering, but he must be careful with it.

“Sometimes, it’s just very small adjustments that have very profound consequences, whether good or bad,” he said. “It just seems like the problems have arisen from me falling behind or walking guys and just putting myself in bad situations. I didn’t forget how to throw strikes, I didn’t forget how to make competitive pitches. I think it’s just been very inconsistent pitch to pitch and batter to batter.

“I think my breaking-ball command has been so inconsistent and the shape has been so inconsistent. Look up the stats on my curveball the past seven or eight years. It’s like high-30, 40 percent strike rate, with like a .170, .180 batting average against and like a 40 percent whiff rate. Look at those numbers, plug it in, and then go, 'How beneficial would it be if he could land those pitches right now?'”

The result likely would be more outs produced with his other pitches, which must play off the curve.

“Was my fastball pretty good? Yeah, it was pretty good,” he said. “It wasn’t a Justin Verlander fastball, it wasn’t a Gerrit Cole fastball. It wasn’t like I was going out there and just mowing people down with my heater. I was beating guys in zone and out of the zone, getting guys to chase with my breaking ball, and that’s what makes me good.”

* The Orioles can add a 27^th player for the doubleheader.

They never posted yesterday’s lineup due to the forecast of rain, so we don’t know whether outfielder Tyler O’Neill was in it. O’Neill didn’t play again Thursday because of neck stiffness and he received treatment in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, outfielder Dylan Carlson wasn’t in the lineup for both games of Triple-A Norfolk’s doubleheader against Memphis.

* Keep an eye on reliever Nate Webb, who lowered his ERA to 2.03 in Game 1 after working three innings for the first time since 2021 and allowing only an unearned run. Starter Raúl Alcantara was charged with seven earned runs and eight total and didn’t retire a batter in the first.

Webb is recovered from Tommy John and Achilles surgeries. The Orioles signed him to a two-year minor league contract in October 2023 and he was a spring training invite.

Infielder Terrin Vavra was called upon to pitch in the seventh inning of Game 1 and he retired the side in order.