Morton fans career-high 14 as Astros beat Rangers 6-1
HOUSTON — One of the things the Houston Astros like best about Charlie Morton is his even-keeled demeanor.
The veteran starter never gets too high or too low, a quality that was on full display on Saturday night after he set a career-high with 14 strikeouts in a 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers.
He never cracked a smile as he spoke slowly, measuring every word. After several attempts to get him to talk about his big night, he was finally asked if he was even happy about his performance.
“No,” he said simply. “I try not to get too far ahead of myself and I try not to let outings dictate how I feel about myself because I think that’s a way to get in trouble. If you let a bad outing get to you too much or you let a good outing get to you too much it’s not a good thing. So I’ll do what I normally do and prepare for the next start.”
Evan Gattis, Brian McCann and Carlos Correa all homered to back Morton up a night after the Astros were shutout in a 1-0 loss in the series opener.
Morton (5-0) yielded four hits and a run without a walk to lower his ERA to 2.03 and extend his career-long winning streak to eight games dating back to last season.
McCann’s solo homer gave Houston the lead in the fourth and Gattis added his one-run homer in the next inning after driving in Houston’s run in the third with a single.
Correa padded the lead with a soaring tworun shot to straightaway center field to make it 5-1 with one out in the eighth. The Astros tacked on another run in the eighth when McCann singled and Jurickson Profar committed an error that allowed Yuli Gurriel to score from first.
Morton’s previous career-best was 12 strikeouts, which he accomplished twice previously, with the last time coming earlier this season against the Rangers.