stlcardinals.com
May 24, 2003

Morris puts up nine more zeros

By George Von Benko / MLB.com

PITTSBURGH -- Matt Morris pitched his second consecutive shutout as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0, in front of 35,733 at PNC Park Saturday night.

Morris became the first Cardinals pitcher since Bob Tewksbury in 1990 to throw consecutive shutouts. It was Morris' fourth complete game this season and improved his record to 6-3. He shackled the Pirates on nine hits and two walks and cruised to victory backed by outstanding defense and some early offense. It was the fifth career shutout for Morris.

"I enjoy going deep," Morris explained. "I enjoy giving the bullpen a break. I try to go as deep as I can and get as many innings as I can, and I was fortunate tonight to get through those innings. Like I said, I wasn't as sharp as a wish I was, but I made pitches when I had to and the defense was awesome."

With 18 consecutive scoreless inings, Morris has matched his career high. He pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings over three starts in 1998.

"I think I have a lot of confidence," Morris said. "Tonight, I wasn't as sharp, but my confidence got me through some of the at-bats. Falling behind 2-0, I was able to still make a decent pitch, a good pitch to get an out instead of worrying about getting back into the count and evening it up. I know it only takes that one specific pitch to get the out. So it doesn't really matter if you're behind or ahead. Obviously you'd like to be ahead just for the sake of controlling them. Like I said make pitches when it counts and you can get out of it."

St. Louis roughed up Pittsburgh starter Jeff Suppan for three runs in the first inning. Fernando Vina started the onslaught with a leadoff triple. Vina scored on a bloop single by Eduardo Perez. After Albert Pujols flied out to right field, Jim Edmonds singled, putting runners at first and third. Suppan made an errant pickoff move to first allowing Perez to score. Scott Rolen drew a walk. Edgar Renteria singled knocking in Edmonds and giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

"He (Vina) set all the tempo with a triple and then a home run," Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa said. "He was really the offensive key."

The Redbirds added three more runs in the top of the second inning. With one out, Vina hit his fourth home run of the season to right field. With two outs, Pujols doubled, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Edmonds smacked a two-run homer, giving St. Louis a 6-0 lead. It was the second consecutive game Edmonds has homered and his 10th homer of the season.

Vina feels he is starting to heat up at the plate.

"I'm feeling better," Vina explained. "I'm just trying to get some balance and let the balls come to me a little bit more and I just trying to do what I can to help this team. I'm just trying to get back to my stroke and what I need to be doing."

Suppan had his second consecutive sub par outing in a row for Pittsburgh and fell to 4-5. Suppan pitched five innings and surrendered six runs on eight hits.

Pittsburgh had a mild threat riding in the fifth inning with Reggie Sanders on second base with two outs. Kenny Lofton, who earlier extended his hitting streak to 22 games, hit a long drive to right-center field that Edmonds ran down with a spectacular catch to end the inning.

Defense remains a constant for St. Louis; the Cards have the best fielding percentage in the Majors.

"He (Morris) had good enough stuff," La Russa stated. "We played outstanding defense. That first double play that Vina turned, nobody else turns it but him."

It was the second consecutive win for the Cards, who enjoyed playing behind their ace Matt Morris.

"We got ahead early, and we had our horse Matt Morris on the mound," Vina explained. "He pitches quick, and hes a lot of fun to play behind. We just tried to do what we could early on and get a few runs on the board."