Stlcardinals.com
May 8, 2001

Morris Shuts Out Pirates

By Derek Glanz

ST. LOUIS -- On Monday night Matt Morris deviated from his normal method of disarming batters, but the results were much the same. Better, actually.

Morris (4-2, 2.25) threw a complete game shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates, leading the Cardinals to a 7-0 win before 31, 891 fans at Busch Stadium.

A sinker-ball pitcher who had recorded 56 outs on grounders and 24 outs on fly balls going into the game, Morris reiterated after the game, as he has many times before, that he is not a strikeout pitcher but rather a ground-ball pitcher. Monday night the fly ball was actually Morris' friend. He recorded 11 outs on flies, six on strikeouts and 10 on grounders.

"They've been starting to (hit more fly balls) just because I've been throwing more curve balls," said Morris, who faced just 30 batters on the night, walking one and giving up four hits while inducing one double play. "So they're getting prepared for the fastball and I'm throwing the curve ball and they're out in front popping the ball up. As long as they stay in the yard I'm happy."

For Morris to throw a shutout was a natural progression from his last several outings. He had pitched seven innings in four straight outings from April 11 to April 27, progressed to an eight-inning, one-earned run performance his last time out against Florida and then threw the shutout on Monday.

The only Pirates player to scrap his way to third base against Morris was Pat Meares, who reached on an infield single, moved to second on a balk and was sacrificed to third. No other Pirates player even made it to second base.

"He's been so good I don't think you can improve on that," said manager Tony La Russa.

"He's pitching at a very high level. His fastball's alive. It's going all over the place. He's got good command on both sides. He's got a couple breaking balls. He even threw a couple change-ups today - it's almost unfair."

Morris' battery mate during most of this stretch of phenomenal outings has not been Gold Glover Mike Matheny, but rather Eli Marrero, the Cuban native who is having a renaissance year

"I've been with him since the minor leagues coming up, so we're comfortable with each other," says Morris. "If we can give Matheny a rest once a week, have him catch the other four guys, if it helps out, plus Eli's been swinging the bat well."

Morris threw one other shutout in his career, back on September 22, 1999 against Houston. His four hits allowed matched his all-time low on August 4, 1998 at Milwaukee.

"I don't even remember the other one," he said. "It was a long time ago."

The Cardinals scored five of their seven runs on homers.

Albert Pujols put the Cardinals on the board with a solo shot of Pirates starter Todd Ritchie to lead off the second inning, his 10th homer of the season. On a 2-2 count, Pujols sent Ritchie's fastball 431 feet into the stands just right of dead center. Pujols had entered the game leading the league with 18 two-strike hits before making it 19.

The Redbirds nickled and dimed their way to two more runs in the third inning with the help of one of the Pirates' four errors.

In the seventh, J.D. Drew and Ray Lankford blew the game open with a two-run homer apiece. Drew gave an 0-2 pitch from Jose Silva 398-foot ride over the right-center field fence. With his jack, Drew kept pace with Pujols for the team lead in home runs with 10.

Their manager is more pleased that his club hit the ball than that they hit it out of the park.

"I don't like to talk about home runs," said La Russa. "You get a lot more hits if you don't concentrate on hitting home runs. They're strong and the ball's gonna leave. They're getting good swings. Albert cracking the ball - he's a complete hitter."

With the shutout, Morris has not thrown 21 innings of shutout ball against Pittsburgh dating back to August 16, 1998. The two-hour, 25 minute game was the Cardinals' shortest of the season.

In the second game of the four-game series on Tuesday night 8:10 p.m. ET, Andy Benes (1-2, 8.10) will face Jimmy Anderson (2-1, 2.97).

NOTES: Cardinals shortstop Edgar Renteria left after six innings with a strained left quadriceps muscle . . . The four errors by the Pirates were their season high. They have committed 31 errors in 30 games.