Music: {allcanada} One Morrow

Sunday, August 29, 2010

{allcanada} One Morrow

TORONTO -- Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Brandon Morrow will make one more start this season to keep his innings pitched under control.

Morrow, who won Saturday's game against the Detroit Tigers, will start next on Sept. 3 against the New York Yankees and then adjustments will be made in the rotation that will include a call-up from the minors when rosters expand in September, the club announced Sunday.

This is Morrow's first full season as a starter and after striking out nine in six innings against the Tigers on Saturday he has pitched 143 1/3 innings.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos said there's nothing physically wrong with Morrow, who is 10-6 with a 4.27 ERA in 25 starts, but rather it's a matter of keeping his innings at about 20 per cent more than last season.

Morrow was obtained from the Seattle Mariners in a off-season trade and pitched last year as a starter and a reliever. He pitched 124 2/3 innings combined between the Mariners and their Triple-A team at Tacoma last season.

"He's had a wonderful year, he pitched 125 innings last year over six months," Anthopoulos said. "What he's done this season has been outstanding."

He was particularly outstanding on Aug. 8 when he lost a no-hitter with two out in the ninth and pitched a one-hitter in a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. He had a career-high 17 strikeouts.

"It's one of those things where already he's at 143 innings," Anthopoulos said. "I told Brandon today I didn't think he would get to this inning level this fast. It's a credit to how well he's pitched. I don't think coming into the season expecting nine innings and eight innings and things like that, especially when he did start off slowly.

Anthopoulos said Morrow and other rotation members are a big part of the Blue Jays future.

"And we'd rather be safe than sorry," Anthopoulos said. "We were hopeful that we'd get him through six months but he pitched so well that he's just really piling up the innings and we want to make sure we build him up the right way."

Last season, the Blue Jays shut down Brett Cecil and Marc Rzepczynski in a similar way in September.