“That’s a pretty good rush right there”, Moore said on MLB Network after the game.
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“Probably the fifth inning or something I realized I hadn’t given up a hit”, Moore said of when he knew he was chasing history. And he nearly became the first Giants pitcher to no-hit the archrival Dodgers since 1915, when New York’s Rube Marquard stopped Brooklyn. “They really wanted this game to salvage the series”.
Thursday night was special, Moore said, and not just because of the near-historic result. Reliever Santiago Casilla needed just one pitch to get the final out. They still hold on to the first wild-card slot, but winning the division is obviously the goal, and this game is certainly a step in the right direction. If he’d have walked a batter I would haven taken him out. The pitch Seager hit was the 133rd of Moore’s night, the most by any starter this season. Hunter Pence left in the sixth inning because of lingering soreness in his surgically repaired right hamstring.
“I’m happy”, he said half an hour later, again flashing a wide grin. “Their fans were talking trash all game”. So when I got that ball, I felt like I was on a football field, to be honest. “I think there’s a little something that salvages it for us in a odd way”.
“That’s a win that can propel you”. “For us to win that series, it was something for us to build on”.
Moore’s bid for history would have also been a historic moment for the San Francisco Giants organization as they could have set an Major League Baseball record for five consecutive seasons with a no hitter (Matt Cain – 2012, Tim Lincecum -2013, Lincecum -2014, Chris Heston -2015).
The Dodgers already were weeping into their blue-bordered handkerchiefs prior to the game. They learned that the club’s top brass had traded A.J. Ellis, their popular yet offensively challenged backup catcher, and also Clayton Kershaw’s best pal. Yes, the Giants still lost the series and dropped a little more ground in the standings.
Josh Tomlin (11-8) lost his fifth consecutive start in August.
If the Giants go on to catch the Dodgers and win the National League West, this will be the night they point to.
Bryce Harper scored a two-run double during the Washington Nationals’ 4-0 success against the Baltimore Orioles, the Detroit Tigers plundered six runs in two innings to see off the Minnesota Twins 8-5 and Carlos Gomez and Adrian Beltre both struck three-run homers in the Texas Rangers’ 9-0 rout of the Cleveland Indians. He threw a career-high 133 pitches, the most thrown by any major league pitcher this season. He said he was over-rotating, which caused his arm to drag behind his body and made it hard to maintain a direct line to the plate.
He kept his pitches down. With the way Moore was pitching, a one-run lead was enough.
But Dodgers rookie shortstop Corey Seager had other plans. Moore had thrown 24 pitches in the eighth inning, which brought him to 119 for the game.
The no-hitter survived thanks to a couple of defensive plays.
White Sox 7, Mariners 6: Todd Frazier tied it with an RBI single in the seventh inning and lifted Chicago past Seattle with a line drive down the left-field line in the ninth. Turner took the pitch, then turned with his shoulders square to plate umpire Sam Holbrook while arguing the call. He threw 106 pitches and twice struck out Paul Goldschmidt.
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Bruce Bochy was pacing a rut in the dugout. Moore smiled and waved at Span, yelling, “Atta boy, Denard!” It’s one of those things where you don’t ever want that to happen.
