Morton gets first victory for Pirates

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The bagel next to Charlie Morton’s record is gone. All it took was a little tinkering with the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup, a familiar face at the back of the bullpen and a right-fielder who is quickly achieving cult status.

Morton wove in and out of trouble for nearly six innings and Pittsburgh’s bullpen made it hold up — barely — in a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

The right-hander (1-6) had gone 15 starts without a ‘W’ next to his name despite a stretch of solid if not always spectacular outings. It’s a drought he insists he didn’t pay attention to, though he was hardly complaining after emerging victorious for the first time in nearly nine months.

Pressed on what was different, Morton just shrugged his shoulders.

“I won. I got a win,” he said. “I don’t think I really pitched great. I think I pitched pretty well limiting the guys that got on from scoring.”

Morton allowed one run in 52/3 innings, walking four and striking out four. Jason Grilli pick up his fifth save in his return from the disabled list thanks in part to a leaping grab at the wall in right field by Josh Harrison, who snagged Ian Desmond’s fly ball to end the game.

“I had it the whole time,” Harrison said with a laugh.

Pedro Alvarez hit his ninth home run of the season for Pittsburgh after being dropped from fourth to sixth in the lineup. Ike Davis, who replaced Alvarez as the cleanup hitter, went 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

“Ike’s hit fourth before, he’s had a very solid month from the start to this time, it might open some things up for Pedro,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “It looks good. Tonight it was nice to get that lineup out on the field.”

The Pirates have won three straight and four out of five as they try to climb out of a massive early season hole. Grilli wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan on Friday coming off a strained left oblique. He was pressed into action in his usual spot with Mark Melancon — who has filled in capably — unavailable after a heavy workload earlier in the week.

“I just tried to stick to my strengths,” said Grilli, who worked around a leadoff walk. “But yeah this feels good. The adrenaline was definitely there.”

Jordan Zimmerman (3-2) labored through six innings to lose for the first time in over a month.