The Tampa Bay Rays’ overall pitching continues to pave the way for the club through six games of the 2019 season, and the pressure now falls to Charlie Morton to hold the rope.
Morton (1-0) takes the mound for the Rays (5-1) on Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field as they try to sweep the three-game set from the Rockies, whose bats have been notoriously quiet against Tampa Bay’s stout staff.
Morton, 35, picked up the club’s first win last Friday over Houston, whom the 6-foot-5 right-hander pitched for over the last two seasons. He went 19-10 in two seasons for the Astros and was an All-Star selection last year during a 15-3 campaign.
In the second game of the season last week, Morton worked five frames and yielded three hits and two runs, but he recorded eight strikeouts, seven with his big curveball.
Morton will have a tough act to follow in Blake Snell.
Last season’s Cy Young Award winner was dazzling in Tampa Bay’s 4-0 win over the Colorado Rockies — its second straight over manager Bud Black’s team and fifth consecutive overall.
Snell struck out a career-high tying 13 and gave up just two hits in seven scoreless innings. While Snell’s performance was the most dominating by far for a starter, the hurlers’ overall showing has been impressive as Tampa Bay has outscored Houston and Colorado by a 22-10 margin.
Offensively, Guillermo Heredia had a key hit, Brandon Lowe came off the bench to produce two hits and Christian Arroyo added an insurance run after arriving in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
“Guillermo had a big hit to give us a three-run lead,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “We were able to scratch and claw for a couple more.”
Lowe replaced Daniel Robertson (illness) in the second inning, and first baseman Yandy Diaz (ankle) left the game in the eighth after hitting a double. Left fielder Tommy Pham walked to stretch his on-base streak to 38 games, one shy of Johnny Damon’s team record.
The high-powered Rockies (2-4) have lost four straight and are looking for any kind of offense in the series finale against Morton and his big hook.
However, Black will not have infielder Daniel Murphy any time soon to come to the offense’s rescue.
The oft-injured Murphy was placed on the 10-day injured list by the organization on Monday after suffering an avulsion fracture of his left index finger.
“Not sure whether there’s going to be a surgery or not,” Black said to MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM. “There’s a couple different courses of action that probably lead to the same timetable. So, with Daniel, we’re going to have to be patient.”
In Wednesday’s finale, Black will start German Marquez, who was 14-11 with a 3.77 ERA in 33 starts last season. The overpowering righty struck out 230 and allowed just 179 hits in 196 innings pitched.
In his lone start this season, Marquez (1-0) beat the Miami Marlins by tossing six strong innings and giving up two hits. He struck out seven and walked three.