CHICAGO — Some of the mechanical changes Charlie Morton wanted to make were on his to-do list for a while. Others resulted from the torn labrum in his right hip, which affected him last season in the form of pain in his butt, hip and groin.
After a month and a half of rehabilitation and targeted work on his mechanics, Morton is almost ready to return to the majors. He will make one more rehab start, Tuesday with Class AAA Indianapolis, before rejoining the Pirates.
“Fortunately — unfortunately — I was given the opportunity to go down and just work on mechanics,” Morton said.
Morton started the season on the disabled list as he polished his delivery after offseason hip surgery. He said he felt good in his rehab start Thursday, when he allowed two runs, one earned, and 11 hits in seven innings.
“If I keep the ball down below the belt, I’ll get pretty good results,” he said. “That’s really what I’m going to focus on.”
Morton has attempted to keep his weight over his back leg during his delivery and prevent his left arm from “swimming,” or pulling back like a freestyle stroke when he throws. After attempting to shorten his arm action, though, Morton has lengthened it again, realizing it wasn’t working.
“I had considerable amount of repetitions throwing like that, doing it all offseason,” he said. “That was hard to do and it was hard to try to make those adjustments.”
Pain resulting from the torn labrum prevented Morton from fully opening his hips, he said, which meant more of his energy went toward third base rather than the plate. That led to the swimming motion as compensation, and he wants to keep his front side closed longer.
Extra arm added
Needing to reinforce an overworked bullpen, the Pirates called up right-hander Wilfredo Boscan from Class AAA Indianapolis.
Boscan, 25, was in the Indianapolis rotation. He will aid a Pirates bullpen that pitched 7⅔ innings in Friday’s 12-inning game, which the Pirates lost, 11-10, to the Chicago Cubs.
To make room for Boscan, the Pirates optioned Steve Lombardozzi to Indianapolis. They transferred right-hander Brandon Cumpton, who will miss the season because of Tommy John ligament replacement surgery, to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
In 31⅓ innings spread throughout six starts this season, Boscan had a 2.87 ERA, 20 strikeouts and 11 walks. He relies on his two-seam fastball and changeup. The Pirates signed him to a minor league contract with a spring training invite in January.
“I try to throw my fastball down and my breaking ball, too,” Boscan said of his success thus far.
Boscan has never pitched in the majors. He spent eight of his nine minor league seasons with the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox organizations.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: May 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.