A promising start to the World Series in Game 1 has suddenly taken a turn down a difficulty path for the Atlanta Braves.
It didn’t seem like anything to be concerned about at the time. Atlanta Braves starter Charlie Morton induced Yuli Gurriel to ground out as the bottom of the second inning began.
The liner caromed off Morton’s lower leg and directly to Freddie Freeman, who jogged it to the bag for the first out. Cameras then showed Morton walking around the back of the mound with a pace and gait that suggested that this “kick save” was almost routine.
He kept pitching… a strike out of Chas McCormick. Another liner out… this one caught by Freeman to end the second inning.
Morton came out again for the third inning, getting Jose Altuve to strike out looking. Clearly, he still had his stuff.
But then there was an awkward-looking landing on that last pitch, and Morton reached down toward his right ankle… and shortly thereafter was escorted from the mound by the Braves trainer.
Okay… ankle sprain? Hopefully not one of those dreaded “high” ankle sprains…
It was shockingly worse:
RHP Charlie Morton underwent X-rays tonight that revealed a right fibula fracture. He will miss the remainder of the World Series and is expected to be ready for Spring Training in 2022.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 27, 2021
Wow. That’s a blow for the Atlanta Braves if this series is extended. But if there was ever any doubt about Morton’s effort…
Charlie Morton threw 10 pitches on a broken leg, sat down for a half-inning, threw six more pitches, the last two of which were a 96-mph fastball and 80-mph curveball to strike out Jose Altuve.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 27, 2021
So, yeah, Charlie Morton threw 16 pitches pushing off the mound with a broken leg.
Where the Braves go from here
We will know more tomorrow, but here are the options, as Atlanta will be permitted to replace Morton on the roster with any pitcher in their organization.
They already added Kyle Wright to the World Series roster, and Drew Smyly is on the list as well… the bet here is that they find another starter-type who can at least handle a couple of innings against the Astros.
The choices might be between…
- Touki Toussaint
- Kyle Muller
- Sean Newcomb
Narrowing that down, we’re probably looking at either Toussaint or Muller. Of these, only Touki is right-handed, and it’s possible that the team would prefer to add a pitcher from the same side as Morton.
Huascar Ynoa is ineligible for the Series as he was removed from the NLCS roster for injury reasons. So his health notwithstanding, Ynoa is not an option.
Muller threw more major league innings than Newcomb this year, but only barely. Both would be “break glass in case of emergency” kind of guys… but that’s where we are.
Heckuva Year
Morton is already re-signed for at least the next season, returning for his age 38 campaign (he actually turns 38 in a couple more weeks).
He threw a team-leading 185.2 regular-season innings with a 3.77 ERA, striking out almost 12 batters per 9 innings.
His post-season numbers were almost identical to that before tonight with 14.1 innings and 6 earned runs allowed with a robust 19 K’s.
His World Series line will end at 2.1 innings, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts, 2 walks, and no runs allowed.
Entering the bottom of the 6th, Atlanta is still leading 5-1 as Luke Jackson enters the game.