Charlie Morton, Braves blank White Sox, 9-0

Charlie Morton turned in a good performance in his season debut and the Atlanta Braves’ offense continued to roll in a 9-0 rain-shortened win over the Chicago White Sox.

Morton struggled to find the feel of his curveball in the first inning in the cold temperatures in Chicago. Yoan Moncada singled with one out. Morton struck out Luis Robert Jr, but then walked Andrew Vaughn on five pitches. He then hit Gavin Sheets with a curve in the back foot to load the bases. He missed with another curve to Paul DeJong, but then put him away with three straight fastballs to end the inning.

Morton walked his former teammate Nicky Lopez to start the second, but Lopez was thrown out trying to steal on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play by Travis d’Arnaud.

Dominic Fletcher followed with another single, but Morton got Andrew Benintendi to ground out to end the inning.

While Morton was dealing with plenty of base runners over the first two innings, White Sox starter Chris Flexen got off to a good start, retiring the first seven hitters he faced. d’Arnaud broke up the string of outs in the third with a one-out double, and then advanced to third on a single by Jarred Kelenic to put runners at the corners. Ronald Acuña Jr. then sent a grounder to third, but beat out the relay throw to first to keep the inning alive. d’Arnaud scored on the play to make it 1-0.

The Braves’ offense got back to work in the fourth against Flexen. Marcell Ozuna singled and then advanced all the way to third on a double by Michael Harris II. Orlando Arcia continued his hot start to the season with a double of his own to make the score 3-0.

The Braves added another run in the fourth as they loaded the bases. Austin Riley came in to score on a wild pitch by White Sox reliever Bryan Shaw to push the lead to 4-0. Atlanta continued to add on in the sixth. Acuña doubled with two outs and then scored on another double by Ozzie Albies. Riley followed with a single to left to push across another run to make it 6-0.

After being given the lead, Morton settled in retiring the side in order in the fourth and the fifth. He came back out to start the sixth and struck out Robert for the third time and then got Vaughn to fly out. Brian Snitker then went to his bullpen for Dylan Lee, who struck out Gavin Sheets to end the inning.

Morton struggled a bit to command the curveball in the early innings, but settled in nicely. He allowed three hits, two walks and struck out six over 5 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings against a very weak lineup hitting in poor conditions.

Rain started to fall in the sixth and continued to pick up in the seventh. Lee stayed in and added another strikeout while retiring the side in order. Acuña walked with two outs in the eighth and then advanced to third on another hit by Albies. The grounds crew then brought out the tarp and the game entered into a delay.

After a 45 minute delay, play resumed and Austin Riley connected on the second pitch he saw for a three-run home run to blow the game wide open.

Tyler Matzek struck out the side in the eighth and then the tarp came back out, and the game was mercifully declared over.

The series is scheduled to continue on Tuesday with a 7:40 p.m. ET start. Weather is expected to be an issue throughout the next two days so continue to check back for updates. Reynaldo Lopez is scheduled to make his Braves debut Tuesday, assuming the game happens.