Game 27: Morton Pitches Well!

It was a month in the making. But Charlie Morton allowed just two runs in six plus innings to get the win for the Pirates who took the second straight game from the Wriglies.

Morton allowed just five hits and walked none. Four of those hits came in a two run fourth inning. But the Pirates had given Morton a three run lead to work with. Garrett Jones had RBI knocks in the first and third and Andrew McCutchen also had an RBI in the third off of Cubs starter Ted Lilly. Ryan Church homered off of Lilly in the sixth to conclude the scoring.

Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan and Octavio Dotel each tossed a scoreless inning to finish the game. Lilly allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings.

The Good
Winning and getting 10 hits and getting a good performance from Morton.

The Bad
Nothing much went wrong. I wish the offense would bust out a bit more.

The Rest
Evan Meek continues to pitch in pressure packed situations. He relieved Morton after a leadoff single in the 7th. He induced a double play from Mike Fontenot and a groundout from Koyie Hill to end it. Steve Pearce – making his 2010 debut at first – made a diving stop on the relay from Bobby Crosby on the double play ball.

Neither team drew a walk.

In his first two career starts against the Cubs, Morton allowed 14 earned runs in 3.1 innings. In the two starts since, he allowed just two runs in 15 innings including a shutout last September 30th. That win on 9/30 was his last win until tonight.

Crosby hit lead off for the second time this year and just the fifth time in his career.

The Pirates had gone 5 games without getting 10 knocks.