Charlie Morton will try to move Pittsburgh a little closer to a playoff spot on Tuesday evening when he returns to the mound in the Pirates' opener of a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox.
Morton has been out of action since Aug. 15 due to a sports hernia and will attempt to pitch through the ailment for the rest of the season, one he hopes stretches well into October.
Pittsburgh currently leads the Milwaukee Brewers by 1 1/2 games for the National League's second wild card spot and is 3 1/2 games back of first-place St. Louis in the NL Central.
Morton has not won since July 2 and is just 5-12 on the year, but has pitched to a 3.84 earned run average. The righty threw a bullpen session on Friday that left the Pirates confident enough to give him his first career start against Boston.
Vance Worley will move to the bullpen to open a spot in the rotation for Morton.
"We followed up on how he's feeling (following Friday's throwing) -- and we're giving him the ball," manager Clint Hurdle told his team's website of Morton. "Vance could either piggyback Charlie's start, or play a role out of the bullpen."
Pittsburgh overcame an early deficit on Sunday to beat the Chicago Cubs 7-3 and take the rubber match of a three-game series. It was Pittsburgh's eighth victory in 10 games and was secured thanks to a six-run fifth inning.
The Pirates won't be able to take the Red Sox lightly tonight despite the fact that Boston is last in the AL East and 18 games under .500. After all, the Red Sox just took three of four from the playoff-hopeful Kansas City Royals, using Daniel Nava's go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to secure Sunday's 8-4 win.
Boston will start right-hander Anthony Ranaudo and he is 3-2 with a 5.40 ERA.
Ranaudo won the first three starts of his major league career, but has since dropped back-to-back outings and logged only 3 1/3 innings versus Baltimore on Tuesday. He gave up four runs on six hits and two walks, yielding three homers in the loss.
"Ranaudo didn't get away with many mistakes," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "Pitches were elevated in the strike zone."
These two clubs have not met since the Pirates won two of three in Pittsburgh during the 2011 season.
[SportsNetwork.com]
