For the first two months of the season, it looked as if the Atlanta Braves made the right decision letting Charlie Morton sign with the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent. Not only was Morton pitching as poorly as any pitcher in the game, but the Braves, even amid their struggles, got mostly good starting pitching. As the season has progressed, though, Morton has excelled, and Atlanta’s pitching has suffered. This reality makes it clear that the team made a mistake letting Morton, a player who wanted to return to Atlanta, walk. He proved it once and for all against the Braves on Friday night.

Shutting down this Braves’ lineup is far from an impressive feat at this point, but Morton still looked sharp on the mound. The right-hander allowed two runs in 5.1 innings pitched while setting a season high in whiffs.

The Braves sure could use a guy like Morton, especially now.

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Braves miss Charlie Morton now more than ever

Morton has a sub-3.00 ERA since rejoining the Orioles’ rotation in late May, and he had pitched well in the bullpen before that. He’s been rock-solid for his last 10 appearances, dating back to May 10. The Orioles are a mess, but Morton is giving them a chance to win every fifth day. That’s something most of Atlanta’s rotation just cannot say.

Grant Holmes has had some good outings, and Spencer Strider has kicked things into gear, but who else is there? Bryce Elder has had far more downs than ups lately, and Didier Fuentes doesn’t look ready for the majors. Recent injuries to Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach have made things complicated for Atlanta, especially on top of the already existing injuries to AJ Smith-Shawver and Reynaldo Lopez.

To give a sense of how poorly things have gone for Atlanta’s starting pitching lately, the time a Braves starting pitcher left a game in line for a win was when Schwellenbach twirled a gem on June 28. Schwellenbach, of course, is now out until September, if not the remainder of the season. The time before that was Strider on June 24, and the Braves only scored runs in that game after he was done for the night. Their offense has struggled, but their pitching has as well.

Morton probably won’t have a sub-3.00 ERA the rest of the way, but there’s reason to believe he could’ve been a key stabilizer for Atlanta had he remained with the team. Letting him walk is proving to be one of many Alex Anthopoulos’ offseason mistakes.