By: Brandon Apter, contributor 
The Phillies lost Charlie Morton to a hamstring injury on April 23rd, during the series in Milwaukee and things are not looking good for the 32-year-old right-hander who was hoping to stabilize a rotation filled with three young arms. Morton had an exam to futher determine the extent of his injury and while the Phillies declined to go into detail about the injury, manager Pete Mackanin wasn't optimistic.
"I really don't know what the next step is," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "I just know it's not as good as we were hoping. We won't find out for a few days." [PhillyVoice.com]
In 17.1 innings this season, Morton was sporting a 4.15 ERA, but looked strong in his previous outing. Prior to getting injured in his start against the Brewers, Morton pitched six innings of one-run ball against the Nationals back on April 17th.
Although they have yet to officially announce who will take Morton's spot in the rotation, all signs point to left-hander Adam Morgan, who was scratched from his start on Tuesday night in Triple-A. Morgan will be in line for his first big league start of the season on Friday night, when the Phillies host the Cleveland Indians at Citizens Bank Park
Phils haven't officially announced Adam Morgan will start in Morton's place on Friday, but he was scratched from his start tonight at AAA.
— Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) April 26, 2016
The 26-year-old southpaw pitched well in Spring Training, posting a 2.00 ERA over nine innings over work, but he lost the fifth starter race to Vince Velasquez, who has looked very impressive early on in the season. He has started three games for the Ironpigs, going 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA. In his last start on April 21st, Morgan hurled seven innings and gave up two runs while striking out six to earn the win. He struck out nine in his first start of the year back on April 8th. Morgan's second start of the year was his only rough one, surrendering four runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
