Charlie Morton stars and struggles in Orioles' 8-4 loss to Red Sox

BALTIMORE — Watching Charlie Morton pitch isn’t for the faint of heart.

In two innings Thursday afternoon, he’d watch as many home runs sail over his head. Boston Red Sox right-handers Alex Bregman and Kristian Campbell went 397 feet and 389 feet, respectively, over the newly adjusted porch in left field. Both came right after a walk. Morton muttered something to himself and scratched his cleat against the dirt in frustration as he ambled back toward the mound. He’d watch five runs cross home plate over five innings in an 8-4 loss.

That’s the eyebrow-raising side of his game.

But Morton also recorded 10 strikeouts; he hadn’t had more than eight since 2023. At 41 years and 142 days, he became the oldest Orioles pitcher to log double-digit punchouts — three years older than Harvey Haddix was in 1964 when he struck out 11. Morton also became just the sixth Oriole to record 10 or more strikeouts in five or fewer innings and the first since Kyle Bradish in 2023.

Morton seemed to be far more effective with what manager Brandon Hyde called his “bread and butter.” That’s his breaking ball, which helps set up the fastball. In Thursday’s loss, he induced 14 whiffs between the two, split evenly, and touched 95 mph on the fastball. Both pitches were more effective than his Orioles debut. Against Toronto last week, Blue Jays batters whiffed only twice on Morton’s breaking ball.

“I think you have to just be honest about what happened,” Morton said. “I think I had good stuff. I think I made a lot of really good pitches. I just made a couple costly mistakes. … 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.”

The Orioles (3-4) signed Morton in the offseason to stabilize the rotation. Thursday’s outing was antithetical to those $15 million expectations but might have been a step in the right direction for what he expects to contribute this summer. And as he pointed out afterward, it’s hard to draw sweeping conclusions a week into the season.

“It’s hard to go off where hitters are,” he said. “It’s hard to go off where you are at [this] point.”

After Morton’s day ended, Boston (3-4) piled on with a couple of insurance runs.

Most notably, Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas took relief pitcher Bryan Baker deep in the seventh inning. Casas is the first lefty to benefit from the new left-field wall, depositing his homer in the section that was moved in about 20 feet this offseason. Between 2022 and 2024, only three left-handed hitters hit opposite-field home runs at Camden Yards: Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman.

Baltimore managed only four runs in the loss — three against Red Sox right-handed starter Tanner Houck and one in the ninth against Garrett Whitlock. Cedric Mullins hit a leadoff homer. Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías would later deliver two-out, RBI singles. Dylan Carlson hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth. But collectively, the Orioles left six runners on base and twice grounded into a double play, struggling to get the better of Boston’s bullpen.

Postgame analysis

Baltimore’s odd offensive flip-flop to start the season ended Thursday. Every eight-plus run outing was followed by two or fewer, and vice versa, through six games. A second straight day without much offense after Wednesday night’s 3-0 loss underscores this simple first-week-of-the-season fact: The Orioles have been able to tread water without Silver Slugger Gunnar Henderson, but they could use him back in the lineup.

Henderson, who suffered a rib muscle strain during spring training, was eligible to come off the injured list as early as Thursday. Hyde said that Henderson will meet the team in Kansas City on Friday and it’s “possible” that he’ll play. The rehab “all went well,” according to Hyde, but no decision has been made on a possible playing time restriction. Injecting the two-time Most Valuable Oriole back into the lineup should restore balance.

What they’re saying

Hyde on Morton’s second outing as an Oriole:

“I think he was better this time out than he was in Toronto. Thought his curveball was better. He had better put-away stuff. Stuff was good, just the middle pitch to Bregman and to have a backup curveball to the young kid Campbell, that’s an impressive looking player. It’s a good team. This is a good lineup. 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. It’s a tough team to pitch against.”

By the numbers

It had been 552 days since Mullins last batted leadoff for the Orioles. That September 2023 day, coincidentally, was also against the Red Sox. This time, thrust to the top of the order for his 700th career game, resulted in his third homer of the year: 374 feet, hugging the foul pole in right field. It’s the 11th time he’s homered and stolen a base in the same game. Mullis is in a three-way tie with Al Bumbry and Eddie Murray for fifth most such games in Orioles history.

On deck

The Orioles finished 1-2 in their home-opening series vs. Boston, dropping Baltimore into a last-place tie in the American League East. Baltimore will head to Kansas City for a weekend series against the Royals, the team that thwarted last year’s playoff hopes in a wild-card sweep. Dean Kremer is Friday night’s probable starter opposite Gold Glove pitcher Seth Lugo. Tomoyuki Sugano and Cade Povich will take the bump the next two days.