Charlie Morton could've made a bad loss even worse for Braves

The Atlanta Braves dropped their fifth game out of the past six on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs in a closely contested 4-3, 10-inning loss. 

However, the encouraging effort from 40-year-old right-hander Charlie Morton on Tuesday was a silver lining for the Braves to take away from the disappointing result -- his performance saved a rough loss from being even worse.

Morton started the game and allowed two runs on 56 pitches through his first two frames. But the two-time All-Star settled in nicely and pushed himself to last five innings on a day where he didn't necessarily bring his A-game. This did not go unnoticed by his peers, especially given the timing of the outing.

Charlie Morton could've made a bad loss even worse for the Braves

“It would have been a huge headache [if he hadn’t],” Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud said, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. “For him not to have his best stuff and grind it out and figure out how to get outs with what he had was impressive," he added.

Tuesday's meeting with the Cubs at Wrigley Field marked the fourth game the Braves played in three days. Atlanta's bullpen was already running on fumes and could've been set back for days had manager Brian Snitker pulled the plug on Morton after the second inning, something he admittedly contemplated doing.

“Absolutely,” Snitker said when asked if his decision to keep Morton out there despite the early struggles was a forward-thinking move to give his relievers some much-needed rest. “That’s why him regrouping and going five is huge,” he added. 

While Morton's workload wasn't enough to propel the Braves to victory versus the Cubs and what we've become accustomed to seeing from MLB starting pitchers, especially from experienced hurlers like Morton, he did a massive service for his team by gutting it out on Tuesday. He struck out eight batters and allowed two runs (one earned) through five innings.

On a day when the Braves had several opportunities to win the contest, going 0-for-14 from the plate with runners in scoring position, Morton tried to do his best to bail his teammates out. Alas, Atlanta ended up losing by one run.