Charlie Morton appears to be staying in the bullpen.
For how long is the question.
Morton has worked in relief in his last two appearances, following opener Keegan Akin in Detroit in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader and holding the Yankees to an unearned run last night in 2 1/3 innings. Shortstop Gunnar Henderson dropped a line drive with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh.
Not much went right for the Orioles in a 15-3 loss, but Morton lowered his ERA to 9.45 and can provide much-needed length. A fifth starter isn’t needed until May 10 due to a few more off-days, though a rainy forecast this weekend could cause some shuffling.
“We haven’t closed the door on him starting still,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We’re trying to get him going a little bit. I wasn’t expecting going into the game that he was going to be able to pitch and he completely saved us. So for him to go 2 1/3 innings after throwing 80 (pitches) just a few days prior, I thanked him multiple times because he allowed me to not use other people.
“That was the best he’s thrown all year for me. Just the command was way better, I loved the aggressiveness in the strike zone and how he threw the ball. So we’re gonna continue to probably use him in the bullpen here for short term and then we’ll kind of see where we are as things kind of shake out. We’ve got a couple off-days to play with coming up.”
Morton was told about the plan to have some shorter spurts in the bullpen for the immediate future. Left it open-ended with him.
“It was a great conversation, he was unbelievably professional, and he is. He’s a total pro,” Hyde said. “But I didn’t know that he was going to be available yesterday and he went down to the bullpen to start the game and we called down and he said he wanted to pitch.”
The Orioles list Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson as their weekend starters against the Royals.
Gibson’s five home runs allowed last night tied the franchise record held by Bruce Zimmermann on May 29, 2022 in Boston, Jeremy Hellickson on Aug. 18, 2017 versus the Angels, Mike Mussina on July 1, 1994 against the Angels, Hall of Famer Jim Palmer on June 22, 1977 against the Red Sox, and Don Larsen on July 19, 1954 in Boston in the second game of a doubleheader.
Reliever Andrew Kittredge, who appeared in one exhibition game before undergoing surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee, threw live batting practice today at Camden Yards and keeps moving forward in his progression.
“It went well. He feels really good,” Hyde said.
“It’s kind of his first step. Should be going on a rehab assignment following this. It’s kind of the start of spring training a little bit for him. This was his first live BP and he threw the ball extremely well and feels good.”
Hyde hasn’t contemplated Kittredge’s role but knows that the veteran right-hander will be “really valuable” after posting a 2.80 ERA last year in 74 appearances with the Cardinals and signing a $10 million contract.
“He’s still a few weeks away, so we’ll see where we are at that point,” Hyde said. “He’s gonna be a huge part of our bullpen, and whether it’s gonna be in the middle innings or late in the game, somebody who had some really good years in Tampa, was a big part of the St. Louis bullpen last year, had a ton of success. I’m really excited to get him here at some point.”
Tyler Wells, expected to return later in the second half after undergoing elbow reconstructive surgery in June, threw his first bullpen session today at Camden Yards.
For the Yankees
Paul Goldschmidt 1B
Trent Grisham CF
Aaron Judge RF
Ben Rice DH
Anthony Volpe SS
Austin Wells C
Pablo Reyes 2B
Jasson Domínguez LF
Oswald Peraza 3B
Carlos Carrasco RHP
This is my last story for the day. I’ll be back at the ballpark on Friday.
