NEW YORK – The last time Brandon Morrow faced the New York Yankees was the first start and 101st major league appearance of his career and, yes, he remembers it.

“Let me think,” he deadpanned, “it was the best game I’ve ever thrown.”

Fresh up from Tacoma, where he’d made himself a starting pitcher again – after an even 100 big-league relief appearances – Morrow strode to the Safeco Field mound last Sept. 5 and pitched the game of his life.

“I remember trying to maintain calm and not doing all that well, but it probably gave me the extra adrenaline,” he said.

Drafted in 2006 as a right-handed starting pitcher from Cal Berkeley, Morrow made the Mariners opening day roster in 2007 and appeared in 60 games out of the Seattle bullpen.

A year later he took over as the team closer when J.J. Putz was on the disabled list, before making five late-summer starts for the Tacoma Rainiers in transition back to starting.

And then, he was on the mound against the Yankees, with 39,512 in the stands and a franchise waiting to see just what Morrow could do. What he did was make a little history – becoming the first pitcher in more than 40 years to take a no-hitter two outs into the eighth inning of his first big-league start.

Wilson Betemit doubled on a curveball to end Morrow’s no-hit bid. What does he remember about that pitch?

“I remember I was exhausted,” he said, laughing.

Much has happened since then, although tonight Morrow will make just the ninth start of his career, again against the New York Yankees. That start will come in new Yankee Stadium.

Since last year, Morrow has gone to spring training as a starting pitcher and emerged as a closer, lost that job – and one as a setup man to David Aardsma – and returned to the Seattle rotation.

“Rinse and repeat,” Morrow said. “A lot has happened in between that start and this one, but it had all happened to me before, too.”

Observers have raised an outcry over Morrow’s “misuse” by the Mariners that dates back to ’07, when he became a reliever almost by accident, and continues right up to the moment when he began starting again, not in the minor leagues but the majors.

“Have I somehow been victimized? No,” he said. “No one who gets the chance to play in the big leagues is a victim. There’s been some uncertainty over my role, but this year that was my doing.”

Morrow has pitched a succession of slightly longer starts each time out this month – three innings, then four, then five. His pitch count tonight will hover around 100, his highest of the season.

How far might that take him? That’s been the issue – throwing too many pitches to stay in games any longer than he has.

“Part of that is hitters hit a lot of foul balls against me,” Morrow said. “That can happen with power pitchers. You think hitters don’t make contact, but if I’m throwing well they don’t make good contact.

“You get a lot of late swings, balls hit way foul the other way. Guys will try to control their swings a little more against power pitchers, they shorten up and just do keep the ball alive.”

The more innings he’s worked as a starting pitcher, the more Morrow’s pitches have come around. A fastball-slider combination out of the bullpen has become a four-pitch arsenal in the rotation, with Morrow throwing his change-up and curve to hitters.

“All pitches evolve the more you pitch,” Morrow said. “I’m pretty happy with mine right now, pretty comfortable. I’m trying to be more pitch-efficient, and in my last start I had three pretty quick innings – and two long ones.

“It’s been good to feel the flow of the game again. In relief, you’re sort of going maximum effort every pitch, and that’s not necessarily the best way to approach pitching. Sometimes, saving a little makes the pitch move more and keeps your arm fresher for later in the game.

“In relief, especially closing, there was no ‘later in the game.’ ”

Since spring training, when among other things he battled the flu, Morrow has gotten stronger, gaining 17 pounds – from 180 to 197. He’s gone from starter to reliever to starter again.

In the process, Morrow has saved six games, lost three and pitched all of 30 innings. In them, he’s allowed 34 hits and 20 walks while striking out 34.

“It’s been a weird season, but most of it was my doing,” he acknowledges. “I wasn’t really ready out of spring training, but I wanted to help this team so much. Then I didn’t, so I asked to start again, and I’ve had the chance to do that up here instead of in the minors.

“It’s probably not the way you should do it at home, but I’m getting there. I’m one of those work-in-progress stories.”

larry.larue@thenewstribune.com

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