At age 41, Morton sets new K mark for O's elder statesmen

BALTIMORE -- Not many MLB players keep their careers going well into their 40s. When it happens, it presents ample opportunities for incredible stats featuring “the oldest to do” things.

Like this one:

During the Orioles’ 8-4 loss to the Red Sox at Camden Yards on Thursday afternoon, Charlie Morton racked up 10 strikeouts. By doing so, the right-hander -- aged 41 years and 142 days old -- became the oldest pitcher in O’s franchise history to record 10 or more K’s in a game.

The previous mark belonged to Harvey Haddix (38 years, 271 days), who had an 11-strikeout showing for Baltimore on June 15, 1964, against the White Sox.

Even in Morton’s 18th big league season, the righty has the ability to miss bats. He generated 16 whiffs vs. Boston, according to Statcast, with eight of his strikeouts resulting in the opposing hitter going down swinging. Morton got seven whiffs apiece from his four-seam fastball and curveball, as well as one each from his sinker and changeup in the 98-pitch outing.

“I think I had good stuff. I think I made a lot of really good pitches,” Morton said.

The results from Morton’s second Orioles start were mixed -- more on that momentarily -- but it’s been visible that his arsenal of pitches can still play at this level at this stage in his career.

Morton also set the following marks:

• He became the oldest MLB pitcher with a 10-strikeout outing since Rich Hill (42 years, 169 days) had 11 for the Red Sox on Aug. 27, 2022, vs. the Rays.
• He notched double-digit strikeouts for the 28th time in his MLB career, the first since he had 11 in a start for the Braves on Aug. 23, 2023, vs. the Mets.
• He posted only the sixth start in Orioles history (since 1954) to feature 10-plus strikeouts in five or fewer innings.

Yet, Morton allowed five runs and couldn’t make it deeper into Thursday’s game. He gave up a pair of two-run home runs -- a first-inning blast by Alex Bregman and a second-inning shot from rookie Kristian Campbell -- each preceded by a walk.

“I think you have to just be honest about what happened,” Morton said. “I can second guess it. I can look back and go, ‘Man, maybe if I got the ball on the ground,’ sinker or whatever. But I think the way I evaluate that outing is there was some early inefficiency that ran my pitch count up. And they made me pay for those walks with the long ball, two good swings.”

Neither of Morton’s first two outings for Baltimore have been quality starts. In his season debut at Toronto last Friday, he allowed four runs over 3 1/3 innings in a loss. Now, his ERA sits at 9.72.

It’s early, though, and manager Brandon Hyde was encouraged by the process made by Morton, who admitted to often needing a few regular-season appearances to get rolling.

“I think that’s normal,” Hyde said. “I think he was better this time out than he was in Toronto. Thought his curveball was better. He had better putaway stuff. Stuff was good.”

The Orioles need Morton to be a solid piece of their rotation and to log innings. They’re counting on that after signing him to a one-year, $15 million deal over the offseason.

But so far, Baltimore’s starting staff has been shaky outside of two quality starts, both by Opening Day starter Zach Eflin. The O’s (3-4) have a 6.35 rotation ERA over seven games. Take away the starts by Eflin (3.75 ERA) and the other four guys have a combined 7.77 mark.

Perhaps part of the reason is that the Orioles have faced two formidable American League East lineups in the Blue Jays and Red Sox. But they’re going to need better results, especially as they wait for Kyle Gibson (a late free-agent signee) to build up at Triple-A Norfolk and for Grayson Rodriguez (right elbow inflammation) to get healthy.

“It's a good team. This is a good lineup,” Hyde said of Boston. “I mean, they don't even have [Rafael] Devers going. [Jarren] Duran and Devers are really dangerous at the top. Adding Bregman, that's a huge piece. He hurt us all series. So it's a tough team to pitch against."