Detroit – With each start, the full spectrum of what and who Charlie Morton is starts coming into view. And it is deep and complex, it’s wistful and wise, insightful and fully developed.
“I just don’t think there is anything he hasn’t seen or been through before,” manager AJ Hinch said after Morton pitched six strong innings and helped the Tigers sweep the Houston Astros out of Comerica Park Wednesday afternoon, 7-2. “He’s a grown adult. He’s in his 40s (41). He’s in his (18th) pro season. He’s pitched Game 7. He’s had to get himself off the mat this year.
“Listen, he’ll tell you. He’s got four kids and he’s got a full life. I just don’t think he stresses. He’s competitive, now. He’s not taking it easy. But his heartbeat is in a great spot.”
Morton actually stresses more than you’d think. He said after the game that his horrific 2-12, 7.57 ERA season with the Pirates still makes him shudder. And he got emotional after the game talking about his failures with the Orioles earlier this season.
“If it didn’t effect me, I wouldn’t be playing,” he said. “Part of what drives me back to the game is the failure. It’s not the incessant failure. But for me, earlier in the year with the Orioles, that was difficult. That was really, really difficult. I’m failing on the field with a group of guys who don’t really know me, a new organization, high expectations.
“Here I am with the limited time I have left on this earth and I’m spending it failing at baseball while I’m not present at home with my wife and kids. That was really tough.”
Morton righted that ship in Baltimore before the Tigers acquired him at the trade deadline and Wednesday — allowing just three hits with eight strikeouts — posted his second win and third quality starts out of four wearing the Old English D.
But he still feels that burn from earlier this season. And he doesn’t totally hate it.
“That feeling, even if you do OK but especially when you don’t, you get that feeling in your stomach that just won’t go away,” he said. “A part of why I play is that feeling. It’s the friction you have with success and failure. It’s a place that’s not really comfortable but it’s a good place to be sometimes. You kind of need it.”
His teammates took some of the anxiety out of this start with a six-run uprising in the first inning against Astros’ lefty Framber Valdez.
“You get a little cushion and it frees you up,” Morton said. “It just gives you the freedom to attack.”
The first six hitters reached base against Valdez. After Jahmai Jones and Gleyber Torres walked, Andy Ibanez ripped an RBI single and Spencer Torkelson dropped an RBI double down the right-field line.
Two runs scored on wild pitches and Dillon Dingler lashed an RBI triple over centerfielder Taylor Trammell’s head.
“That was about as impressive a collection of at-bats that you could ask for,” Hinch said. “From the top, controlling the strike zone and drawing walks to Andy not trying to do too much and driving the ball up the middle. Framber is really good and he’s one pitch away from getting out of any of the messes he’s in and we still continued to pass the baton to the next guy and everybody had a better at-bat.”
Trammell fell awkwardly into the wall and was taken off the field on a cart. He was being evaluated for a concussion.
“I think Charlie was more worried about Trammell than the long delay (in the first inning),” Hinch said. “He cares so much about people.”
His teammates, especially.
Case in point: One of the few spots of bother Morton had to contend with — other than a two-run homer by Mauricio Dubon in the fourth — came after an error by third baseman Ibanez, who threw errantly on what looked to be an inning-ending double-play in the fifth.
But with runners on second and third and one out, Morton struck out Christian Walker and Jesus Sanchez with a batch of his signature, 3,100-rpm curveballs. He was asked about picking up his teammate there.
“No, I just wipe it,” he said. “I operate under the assumption that everybody is prepared and is working hard and playing hard. I make mistakes all the time. I don’t want that to be on my teammates’ minds when I make a mistake. I don’t think that’s being a good teammate.
“I mean, I’ve only been here a couple of weeks, but he’s already made a bunch of good plays behind me.”
Still, those punch-outs allowed Ibanez a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, maybe in retrospect, you look back and maybe that was helpful for him so he doesn’t feel bad,” Morton said. “But he shouldn’t feel bad. He’s prepared. He plays the game the right way. It’s been a pleasure to be every one of these guys’ teammate. It’s been awesome.”
Dubon’s homer snapped a streak of 31 straight scoreless innings by Astros hitters and a streak of 23 straight scoreless innings by Tigers pitching. And it was the only smudge against the Tigers’ pitching staff.
“Charlie, honestly, he’s just a great human being,” said catcher Jake Rogers, who had a masterful game framing strikes. “Just talking with him about who he is as a person. Like he debuted in 2008 and his first punch-out was Chone Figgins. Just crazy. He’s been through everything. He’s been a sinker-slider guy. He went through the era of being a four-seam, curveball guy, and now back to sinker-slider and opposite-handed sinkers.
“And he’s been through the ups and downs of baseball. It’s just cool to talk to him and he how he’s survived this long.”
Something about feeding off the friction caused by failure and success.
“I have a desire to be close with the guys I play with,” Morton said. “I have a desire to uphold my end of the bargain with the team, with the team and the city, the guys in the clubhouse and the front office, especially at this stage of my career.
“It’s like, man, if you’re not doing that, what am I doing? This season, 2025, will eat at me the rest of my life no matter what happens the rest of the year because I let a group of guys down in a way that was very difficult.”
But with the Tigers (76-53), who have the best record in the American League and finished a stretch of 13 games in 13 days at 10-3, he has a chance to write a happier ending.
“I’m thankful for that and I’m excited,” he said. “This group has been nothing but awesome.”
@cmccosky
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