Morton allows seven runs in 24-2 loss, Mateo and Sánchez used in relief (updated)

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde sent out the verbal equivalent of a bat signal, except it wasn’t for the offense.

Hyde expressed his concerns Saturday about his bullpen’s heavy workload and how the short starts take their toll. And that’s when he called for his 41-year-old pitcher to help.

“Come on, Charlie Morton,” Hyde said. “Need you.”

Morton didn’t make it through the third inning today, leaving after 2 1/3 and charged with seven runs in a 24-2 loss to the Reds before an announced crowd of 19,053 that booed the performance but enjoyed an infielder and catcher making their pitching debuts.

Their excitement began with Jorge Mateo taking the mound in the eighth, chanting his name as the Reds batted around. He loaded the bases while throwing sliders, changeups and curveballs according to the tracker, hit Blake Dunn with two outs and served up a grand slam to Noelvi Marte. Former Orioles catcher Austin Wynns singled for his fifth hit.

Gary Sánchez handled the ninth following Adley Rutschman’s solo homer that cut the lead to 20-2, and he retired the first two batters before allowing four runs. The last three came from Wynns, whose homer gave him six hits and six RBIs.

“Just want it to be over as fast as possible," said manager Brandon Hyde.

"Unfortunately, it’s embarrassing. It’s not what you want to do on Easter Sunday in front of your home crowd. You want to compete.”

Cody Poteet let an inherited runner score in his Orioles debut to complete Morton’s line: 2 1/3 innings, seven hits, seven runs, four walks and a home run. Hyde made the switch with Morton at 68 pitches, only 36 for strikes.

In five starts since signing for $15 million, Morton has allowed 31 hits and 25 runs with 15 walks in 20 2/3 innings. Today’s outing was his shortest since working one inning in his final regular season appearance on Sept. 22, 2023.

Morton hadn’t allowed four-plus earned runs in his first five starts in his previous 17 major league seasons. A 10.89 ERA is the highest over any five-game span in Morton’s career in a minimum 20 innings, according to STATS, and it’s the second-highest in a pitcher’s first five starts with the Orioles after Ty Blach’s 11.32 ERA in 2019.

Kent Mercker posted a 9.27 ERA in his first five starts in 1996. Doug Drabek (8.74 ERA in 1998), Shawn Boskie (8.59 in 1997) and Alexander Wells (8.57 in 2021) also are on the list.  

“I think it’s more letting the team down," Morton said of his frustration. "I’ve gone through enough failure. I’ve gone through enough searching, wondering about it, but it’s letting your teammates down. It’s letting your coaches down and the fans down. That’s something that you really never get over. For me, that’s the most frustrating part. It’s not the failure, getting beat. I think it’s the effect that it has on other people that you care about. That’s the hardest thing.”

Asked whether it could be a physical issue, Hyde said, "We haven’t heard if anything’s bothering him. I haven’t talked to him since the outing, but he’s just struggling.

“I’ve been with Charlie for five starts. He’s got a track record of having a really good career and right now he’s having a tough time. The command’s not … he walked a bunch today. He just had a tough time getting through. On a day we really desperately needed some innings, that was a challenge.”

“Yeah, I feel fine," Morton said. "I’m 41 years old, right? I came out of spring and I felt good. My first outing, I think I was up to 97 on my heater. Today was just, I couldn’t get any momentum going. I couldn’t get in the zone. It’s like when I felt like I got in the zone and got ahead, I didn’t get the result I was looking for, so no, physically I don’t know what to expect. I’m 41 years old, but I feel good, especially compared to last year.”

The Orioles tied the game 1-1 in the second on Jordan Westburg’s double off Brent Suter and third baseman Marte’s two-out throwing error after shortstop Elly De La Cruz made a sensational diving catch behind the bag to rob Jackson Holliday. Morton got away with a pair of two-out walks in the first but allowed a run in the top of the second on Jake Fraley’s walk and back-to-back singles by Marte and Wynns.

Wynns lined a sinker into left field at 107.8 mph off the bat, and he added another RBI single in a seven-run third. The Reds sent 11 batters to the plate, beginning with Cruz’s home run. Fraley dumped a single into right field at 58.8 mph with the bases loaded to score two. TJ Friedl tripled off Poteet, and he came home on Matt McLain’s single.

Marte had a run-scoring double off Poteet in the fourth, and Wynns came through with another RBI single to increase the lead to 10-1. Austin Hays doubled to score McLain in the fifth, and he came home on Gavin Lux’s fly ball that fell in right.  

The last time Wynns had three RBIs was Sept. 14, 2022 and he wasn’t done. He singled in the sixth inning off Cionel Pérez for his first career four-hit game, and he wasn’t done.

Poteet took one for his new team, allowing five runs and six hits and throwing 68 pitches in 2 2/3 innings. The first five batters reached against Pérez in the seventh and he allowed three runs to expand the Reds’ lead to 15-1.

"I’m hoping Poteet could give us three to four innings," Hyde said. "If that’s the case and we’re in the game, I had a few guys that I would use, but when the game got way out of hand, I didn’t want to use Seranthony (Domínguez), (Yennier) Cano, (Gregory) Soto."

The Orioles are 9-12 going into their off-day, including 4-4 on the homestand. The rotation’s ERA is 6.11, highest in baseball, and they’re waiting for other opinions on Grayson Rodriguez’s sore shoulder after an MRI. Zach Eflin played catch again today on flat ground but isn’t cleared to face hitters.

Kyle Gibson started today at High-A Aberdeen and threw 78 pitches in five innings, allowing one earned run and two total with one hit, two walks and five strikeouts. Three appearances might be enough to get him in the rotation, with Friday night in Detroit a possibility. Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and Cade Povich start against the Nationals in D.C.

“Look at our starts this series," said Hyde, whose team walked 11 batters today for the first time since July 25, 2019. "You’re just not going to be able to win games that way. You’re gonna win them once in a while because you’re gonna outscore teams, but that’s not how you win Major League Baseball games.”

Morton was dealt his league-leading fifth loss. Can he turn it around?

“I think the things that make me question that are, physically, can I do it? I think that’s the big question. Like, is my stuff good enough. And it’s hard to judge it when you’re behind a lot and it’s hard to judge it when you’re in bad counts," he said.

"It’s hard to have expectations based on what I can do physically when I don’t know really, truly where my stuff is. I go out there and I think I had 40-something pitches in the first two innings. Any time I do that, I’m putting myself in a bad spot physically. It’s like, what’s the shape of the breaking ball? What’s the spin on the breaking ball? What’s the velo like? Things like that, those are questions that I ask myself to see if I can justify a belief in myself physically. That’s the question, right?

"If you said, ‘We’ll give you 30 starts to get this right,’ I’ll get it right. It’s just, how much negatively do I affect the team during that process, right? That’s the question. Do I still think I can pitch well? Yeah. It’s just, some of the things that are going wrong right now, just throwing strikes, making decent pitches consistently, getting into a rhythm, some momentum. That’s the issue. But, yeah, I don’t doubt the fact I can get it right. It’s just, how quickly can I get it done?

"I’ve failed tons of times. I’ve felt this way a lot. I’ve felt like I was in a bad spot or I wasn’t getting my job done, I was letting people down. I’ve felt that before, more than enough. I know that about myself, inherently, that I can do it. It’s just really frustrating.”

Center fielder Cedric Mullins offered his support of Morton.

"There’s a huge belief in him," Mullins said. "He’s still got the stuff. It’s just a matter of continuing to work on what he’s trying to work on. He’s got a solid defense behind him to work with him. Just waiting for him to turn it around."

Mullins also isn't worried about team morale, a curiosity and borderline obsession among some fans and media.

"I’d say overall good," he said. "Of course, it has the ability to sway just with the momentum between each day. I see a bunch of guys coming in with a positive attitude. That’s all I really want to see day in and day out to give us the best chance out there."

Suter was the Reds’ third choice to start today after Nick Lodolo went on the paternity list and Carson Spiers pitched in relief yesterday. Suter allowed an unearned run and three hits in three innings.

The craziness was completed by Randy Wynne earning a three-inning save.

"It’s one of those games where you try to keep letting the at-bats go," Mullins said. "Anything’s possible, but when you’re in a game like that, it’s not fun to play in."

* Outfielder Heston Kjerstad wasn't in the lineup because of a bruised right elbow, but he's avoided the injured list.

“I was trying to stay away from him today, which I did," Hyde said. "It’s just really, really sore, but he took some swings early and if we got into a big spot there in the game, I was going to consider using him. But that spot didn’t come up.”