Brandon Morrow's night, inning-by-inning

Normally, I'm opposed to in-game, play-by-play blogging. I mean, can't a person just watch it on TV or listen to the radio?

This is different. Brandon Morrow is pitching for the Tacoma Rainiers and there's a lot of interest in every pitch this guys throws in his transition from reliever to starter. With that, we offer an inning-by-inning account of Morrow's start tonight against the Las Vegas 51s.

Here we go:

FIRST INNING
-Buck Coats grounds out to second base on a 2-2 pitch
-Howie Clark strikes out on three pitches, includingd a sweet called third strike on the outside corner.
-Randy Ruiz walks on five pitches after Morrow misses with three straight, gets a called strike one, then ball four on a pitch up.
-Travis Snider hits a broken-bat single into right field on a 1-1 pitch.
-J.P. Arencibia strikes out swinging at what looks like a nice two-seamer on a 2-2 count.
Morrow threw 21 pitches, 12 for strikes.


SECOND INNING
The Rainiers give Morrow a 2-0 lead thanks to hits by Jeff Clement, Mike Carp and Prentice Redman.
-Kevin Howard doubles high off the right-center field wall on a 2-1 fastball.
-Brian Dopirak pops up to third base on a 3-1 fastball in on his fists.
-Aaron Mathews grounds out to shortstop on an 0-1 fastball.
-Angel Sanchez hits a first-pitch fastball into center field for an RBI single.
-Buck Coats flies out to left field for the third out on a 2-1 fastball.
Morrow therw 16 pitches and 10 strikes, and it's pretty clear he's establishing the fastball.

THIRD INNING
-Howie Clark grounds out to second base on a 3-2, 95 mph fastball. Morrow fell behind 3-0 before a called strike one and two foul balls on 96 and 96 mph fastballs.
-Randy Ruiz singles to center field on a 1-1 fastball.
-Travis Snider walks after Morrow gets ahead 0-2.
-J.P. Arencibia strikes out on three pitches, swinging through an 89 mph slider for strike three.
-Kevin Howard grounds into a 6-4 fielder's choice on a 1-0 pitch, beating another slider into the ground.
Morrow threw 22 pitches, 13 for strikes. Not bad, although 59 pitches isn't what the Mariners want to see through three innings.

FOURTH INNING
-Brian Dopirak hits a soft liner to second base on an 0-2 slider.
-Aaron Mathews flies out to center fielder on an 0-1 fastball.
-Angel Sanchez hits a 2-0 fastball between shortstop and third for an infield single.
-Buck Coats strikes out on an 0-2 slider.
Morrow threw 13 pitches, nine for strikes, and is mixing his breaking pitches with the fastball. Best of all, he seems to have found a rhythm and is around the plate.

FIFTH INNING
-Howie Clark hits a first-pitch single to center field.
-Randy Ruiz walks on four pitches.
-Travis Snider grounds a 2-1 slider to first base, but Jeff Clement's throw to second hits Ruiz in the back for an error that loads the bases with nobody out.
-J.C. Arencibia strikes out on a 2-1 slider.
-Kevin Howard grounds into a 4-6 fielder's choice, allowing a run to tie the score 2-2.
-Brian Dopirak walks to re-load the bases. That brings Rainiers manager Daren Brown from the dugout and right-hander Denny Stark out of the bullpen. Morrow walks away having allowed six hits, one earned run and four walks with four strikeouts.

By my unofficial count (might have missed pitch trying to peek at Ryan Rowland-Smith's outing on TV), Morrow threw 98 pitches, 54 for strikes.