Charlie Morton shines as Pittsburgh Pirates shutout San Francisco Giants 5-0 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates’ starter Charlie Morton tossed crushing pitches to take his club over the San Francisco Giants 5-0 in the three-game series-opener at the AT&T Park in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 8.
Morton allowed six hits, walked three batters and struck-out four to gather his ninth win of the season. Morton worked eight innings and tossed 71 strikes of 115 pitches to improve his record to 9-6 with 3.56 ERA. His relief pitcher Jose Veras carried the
same path set by Morton and worked one hit-less inning to get the struggling Pirates over the defending World Series champions.
The Pirates’ batting also made a complete contribution to help starter make a devastating spell. Batters piled up five runs, including two in the first, one in the third and two again in the fifth inning.
In the first inning, Neil Walker and Ryan Ludwick scored an RBI single against the Giants’ reliable pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. Alvarez earned a walk for third run and then Ludwick made another RBI, followed by an RBI single by Wood.
Vogelsong allowed all of the runs on nine hits over five innings. Although he made eight strike-outs over 90 pitches, his record dropped by one loss to 9-2 with a 2.48 ERA.
Giants’ other pitchers, including Guillermo Mota, Santiago Casilla, and Ramon Ramirez each remained scoreless over their small innings. Mota allowed one hit over two innings and Ramirez gave two hits over one inning.
Failure of the strong batting line-up was the major problem for the Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy.
Furious Bochy said. "It was pretty flat out there tonight. I do not know why. When you don't get a big hit to knock in a run occasionally, it makes it tougher," he further added. "This has been going on for a while and we need to do something about. It's
not going to happen until we do come through with some clutch hitting."
The Pirates grabbed their 55th win, giving the Giants their 53rd loss of the season. The Pirates will now have to be more careful in the next outing, as the defending World Series champions can bounce back like wounded lions.
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