Morgan loses control in loss
PHILADELPHIA >> Adam Morgan didn’t help himself or the Phillies Sunday, committing a critical balk and getting careless with his control in the fifth inning, thereby helping the Atlanta Braves mount a comeback to the tune of a 6-2 victory at Citizens Bank Park.
Morgan, the 25-year-old Phillies rookie attempting a career comeback, was protecting a onerun lead with two outs in the fifth when his luck turned the other way. He balked the Braves’ Cameron Maybin, who had opened the inning with a walk, over to second base and then allowed it to matter.
That easily, Morgan gave up a run-scoring single to Chris Johnson, went full to Jonny Gomes on a borderline pitch, then walked him. Jace Peterson promptly followed with a three-run home run to make it 4-1 and Morgan and the Phillies would never recover.
For Morgan, problems were evident from the start. He said he was fighting to control his fastball.
“When you don’t have command of the fastball it’s tough to
get ahead (in the count),” Morgan said. “Hitters, in my opinion, are taught to sit on the breaking pitches and react off the fastball. So when you don’t have a fastball, it’s easier for them.”
It was only the Phillies’ third loss in their last 15 games. But it’s easy to see it didn’t have to go that way.
Morgan, now 2-3 in this rookie season, struggled to pitch through the problems. He opened the game by issuing singles to the Braves’ first two hitters, Maybin and Eury Perez, but retired the next three meaty hitters in a row to escape. He again allowed the first two Braves batters to reach in the fourth, but again would escape that jam without harm. Not so in the fifth.
“I try to look at the positives and not think too
much about the negatives, but there were (negatives),” Morgan said. “I left a ball up to Peterson, and (before that) fell behind to him and walked Gomes. And there was the balk. That got (Maybin) to second and Johnson kind of squibbs one to right field, and instead of it being first and third, it’s 1-1. So just a couple of pitches...
“It just goes back to fastball command and not being able to get ahead of guys. It puts you in the hole the whole game.”
For a player who swears he’s feeling 100 percent health-wise, Morgan sounded somewhat concerned that this lack of command is becoming a trend.
“My last couple of outings I feel like I’ve been battling a lot more and putting myself in those kinds of situations,” said Morgan, who missed much of 2013 and all of 2014 with a torn rotator cuff and a delayed surgery and shoulder rehabilitation. “I’m not
saying I’m not focused at all, but it takes a toll. From the first inning on it was my fault today, not being ready for that first inning. There’s no excuse for that.”
While saying he’s helthy, Morgan admitted to feeling, “a little out of whack.
“I’m not pressing the panic button just yet; I think it’s a process,” he said. “Definitely, keeping the ball down for strike one is what I’m going to focus on this next week. And mechanics-wise, I’m excited to work on that these next five days and take the hill after that.”
The Phillies (41-65), having scored 21 runs over the previous two nights, had put a run on the board in the second inning off Atlanta starter Julio Teheran when Ryan Howard opened with a double and would subsequently score on a Cody Asche single. Prior to the Asche hit, Teheran (7-6) thought it was a good time to send a message.
With Howard on second, next hitter Domonic Brown belted a foul ball with homer distance. Teheran promptly had no problem plunking Brown with the next pitch. He’d almost done the same thing to Maikel Franco in the first inning, after he bombed a foul ball to left. The next pitch went whizzing by Franco’s face ... then Teheren craftily KO’d him with an outside-corner floater.
“After I hit that first fastball in (foul) and then he hit me, I guess he was saying, ‘I’m not going to let you beat me,’” Brown said. “He’s a tough pitcher when he’s on. ... It was going to be a long day if he kept locating.”
It would be just that for the Phillies.
Morgan’s loss of focus in the fifth would leave the Phils staring at a three-run deficit. They got one back when Cesar Hernandez doubled and scored on a single by Odubel Herrera in the bottom of the fifth, but the Braves (48-58) scored two more in the seventh off relievers Justin De Fratus and Jeanmar Gomez to salt the game away and save themselves the embarrassment of being swept in a four-game series by the worst team in the majors.
That’s what the season record says they are, anyway. But the “second-half” Phillies at least are interested enough to make it interesting every day.
“It was like I was saying (Saturday), you try to come in with a fresh mindset and start anew,” said Howard, fresh off a July in which he hit .253 with 11 runs scored, five homers and 23 RBIs. “And that’s what we’ve done.