The metamorphosis of Charlie Morton took another modestly impressive step Monday in New York.

He lasted only six innings, allowed an eye-popping 11 hits, and the Pirates lost to the Mets, 7-3, at Citi Field. But that tells only part of the tale, considering that Morton managed to persevere through perhaps the worst luck he has encountered all season.

All 11 of New York's hits were singles. Two of the Mets' runs scored on two passed balls by usually reliable catcher Chris Snyder, and their third and final run off him came off three groundballs that found holes. A few feet either way toward an infielder, and it all could have gone just about as well as most of Morton's starts have gone this season en route to a 2.51 ERA.

"I think they just hit 'em where we weren't. What were there, eight groundball singles?" manager Clint Hurdle said. "Charlie didn't have his curve or change, so he basically was just going with the sinker, and that was up. He battled with basically one pitch, and (you) have to give him credit for that."

Morton appeared to shrug it all off, something he might not have done last season.

"Anytime you give up 11 hits, I think you have to re-evaluate," Morton said. "Some of those hits were on pitches I left up. Mentally, you kind of start pressing, and maybe you feel like you have to strike them out. But, for the most part, I got the result I wanted when I executed the pitches. Not all of them were executed well. There were a lot of baserunners."

Morton exited with a 3-3 tie and was relieved by Daniel McCutchen, who promptly allowed two runs in the seventh. McCutchen had allowed only one earned run all season to that point.

"I didn't think he was going to finish the season with a 0.40 ERA," Hurdle said, referring to McCutchen's ERA coming into the game.

Copyright (C) 2011 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.