Cleveland – Charlie Morton walked off the field at Comerica Park last Friday to a spattering of boos, given the early hook after being tagged for six runs in 1.1 innings.
He was released by the Tigers a day later.
What an ignominious ending that would have been for such a long and successful big-league career.
The Atlanta Braves, the team that pummeled him Friday, have rescued him and will give him a proper farewell.
The Braves, who drafted Morton in 2002, signed him Thursday and announced he will start the club’s season finale Sunday at Truist Park.
“That’s pretty cool,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said before the game Thursday. “Very few players get that full-circle moment at a place that was very special to them. They will do him right on the last day of the season.”
Hinch thought something like this might be in the works.
“The one player from the Braves who sought me out to ask about Charlie was Chris Sale,” Hinch said. “It’s not a surprise that he was somehow involved in this.”
Sunday is Sale’s start day, but he offered to step aside for a couple of innings to let Morton get his curtain call.
“Chuck has been here for a long time,” Sale told MLB.com. “He means a lot not only to this organization and this fan base, but to all those guys in the clubhouse. He’s taught a lot of these guys how to be a pro.”
Morton, 41 with two World Series rings over his 18-year career, announced his intention to retire before this season. Now he gets to finish where he started.
He was in the same Braves’ draft class as Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur and he debuted with Atlanta in 2008.
After being traded to Pittsburgh, he came back to Atlanta and helped them win the 2021 World Series. His performance in Game 1, collecting three outs after a line drive had fractured his leg, elevated him to folk-hero status.
“It’s not only a feel-good story, it’s a justified story for everything he’s given to that organization,” Hinch said.
All the faith
The Tigers tapped right-handed rookie Troy Melton to start the series finale Thursday.
“He can handle all of this,” Hinch said. “No matter what setting we’ve given him, I’ve seen a consistent person. I’ve seen a consistent approach and he stuff is really good.”
Melton hasn’t thrown more than 50 pitches in an outing since Aug. 13, so this was expected to still be somewhat of a bullpen start.
“We will see how long we take him,” Hinch said. “He’s not built up to 100 pitches or what people generally refer to as a starter’s workload. We’ll read the game.”
The last time Melton made a spot start was against the White Sox and he pitched five scoreless, one-hit innings.
“I feel like he’s one of the best on our team of staying at a consistent level,” catcher Dillon Dingler said. “He doesn’t get too high or too low. I haven’t felt like any moment has been too big or too little for him. He’s always risen to the occasion.”
Fun fact: Melton started opposite Guardians’ lefty Parker Messick. The two last squared off on July 5 in Triple-A at Columbus. Melton threw six, two-hit shutout innings that day with seven strikeouts. Messick posted seven scoreless, three-hit innings with nine strikeouts.
Around the horn
Tyler Holton, collecting five outs Wednesday, extended his regular-season scoreless innings streak against the Guardians to 27.2. That’s the longest active run by any pitcher against any team this year and the longest by anyone since David Robertson posted 28.2 scoreless innings against Boston from 2015-2024, per Elias Sports Bureau.
On deck: Red Sox
▶ Series: Three games at Fenway Park, Boston
▶ First pitch: Friday — 7:10 p.m.; Saturday — 4:10 p.m.; Sunday — 3:05 p.m.
▶ TV/radio: Friday — AppleTV/97.1 FM; Saturday-Sunday — FanDuel Sports/97.1
▶ Probables: Friday — RHP Casey Mize (14-6, 3.91) vs. LHP Kyle Harrison (1-1, 3.58); Saturday — TBD vs. LHP Connelly Early (1-1, 1.88); Sunday — LHP Tarik Skubal (13-6, 2.21) vs. TBD.
SCOUTING REPORT
▶ Mize, Tigers: After scuffling for most of July and August, Mize made a transformative adjustment with his slider. He started throwing it harder (from 85-86 mph earlier in the season, to 89-91 mph in September) and it’s not only been effective on its own (hitters are 1 for 11 against it this month with a 30% whiff rate), the threat of it has gotten hitters off his splitter (43% whiff rate in September).
▶ Harrison, Red Sox: Acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, he made his first start with the Red Sox on Saturday and allowed one run and four hits over six innings at Tampa. He’s got a lively four-seam fastball (95 mph) and in the short big-league sample is holding hitters to a .154 average. He mixes a slurve to lefties and a changeup and cutter to right-handed hitters. He’s got some deception, too, evidenced by a 31% chase rate.
@cmccosky