Hall of Famer Morgan dies
Big Red Machine sparkplug part of dominant mid-70s run
At 5-foot-7, he was the smallest cog in the Big Red Machine. And to his starpowered teammates, Joe Morgan was a driving force, too.
Morgan, the Hall of Fame second baseman who became the sparkplug of dominant Cincinnati teams in the mid-1970s, has died. He was 77.
He died at his home Sunday in Danville, Calif. Morgan was suffering from a nerve condition, a form of polyneuropathy.
“Joe Morgan was quite simply the best baseball player I played against or saw,” Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench texted to The Associated Press.
Morgan’s death marked the latest among major league greats this year: Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Tom Seaver and Al Kaline.
lowed the first of two errors by second baseman Jose Altuve on a grounder to shallow right field by Ji-man Choi. Altuve’s throw hit the ground before going in and out of first baseman Yuli Gurriel’s glove.
The play originally was ruled an error on Gurriel, but the official scorer later charged the error to Altuve. When Gurriel returned to the dugout, he slammed his glove onto the bench.
Margot’s big plays made a winner of 36-year-old Charlie Morton, who helped Houston win the 2017 World Series, and spoiled an otherwise fine effort by Mccullers, who
lost despite striking out 11 in seven innings. Three of the four runs off him were unearned.
Morton improved to 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA in the past two postseasons.
Tampa Bay held on through a tense ninth, when Nick Anderson twice loaded the bases. One run scored when Springer hit a one-hopper to second baseman Brandon Lowe, who stepped on the base and started a double play. After walking Altuve and Michael Brantley on four pitches each, Anderson got Alex Bregman to fly out on the first pitch to center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, a step in front of the warning track.
Game 3 in the best-of-7 series is Tuesday night, when the Rays will send Tyler Glasow against
Houston’s Jose Urquidy. Because this is a neutral site, the Rays, the top seed in the AL, were the home team in the first two games and Houston will bat last in Games 3 and 4, and Game 5, if necessary.
Mccullers retired 14 straight, nine by strikeout, before Mike Zunino hit a 454-foot homer into the back bullpen beyond the fence in left-center for a 4-1 lead in the seventh. It was his third this postseason.
Houston’s Carlos Correa homered to the same spot off Pete Fairbanks with one out in the sixth. It was his fifth of the postseason.
The Astros are in the ALCS for the fourth straight year and are trying to get to the World Series for the third time in that span.