Moore fell an out short of the no-hitter when Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager hit a soft single into right field, and the pitcher settled for his first win in a Giants uniform.
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On a cool Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, until Moore stood one out away from history, they did not hit him at all.
Moore struck out seven and walked three to earn his first win for the Giants since they got him in a trade with Tampa Bay on August 1.
Rangers 9, Indians 0: Cole Hamels allowed only two singles over eight innings for his 14th victory, Carlos Gomez hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat with Texas and the AL-best Rangers beat Cleveland in the opener of a four-game series matching division leaders.
The Giants know as well as anyone there’s no such thing as inevitable in baseball, not on the good side or bad, and so a bad-luck hit kills a no-hitter on the 133rd damned pitch, and a three-game deficit in the NL West becomes two, and a month of games still await, six of them against these Dodgers. It’s just this one LA fan/Trump supporter (one assumes) who needed to release some frustration.
“I didn’t want to steal the moment from a win heading out of town by trying to be upset about it”, Moore said.
Corey Seager: Broke up no-hitter with two outs in 9th. “I think there’s a little something that salvages it for us in a unusual way”.
“Today was fun. Hopefully, moving forward, we can build off this”, said Moore, who tossed a no-hitter in 2011 for the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits.
The crowd cheered when Seager prevented the Giants from throwing a no-hitter for the fifth consecutive year – something no major league franchise has done. “He saved us from getting swept”.
But tonight he had ideal command of his fastball, curve and changeup, no-hitting the confused Dodgers through 8 2/3 innings.
Moore retired 14 straight batters at one stretch and is now 1-3 in five starts for the Giants.
Obviously, they still got the victory, and we’ll be ready tomorrow. Moore has limited the Dodgers to an unearned run and five hits in 15 1/3 innings the past two times he faced them. Span noticed the change from center field, calling the pitch “the equalizer”. Enrique Hernandez smoked a liner to left-center that looked like such a sure hit that Bochy started heading toward the mound.
Chris Heston threw one previous year for San Francisco, Tim Lincecum did it in 2014 and also 2013 – with 148 pitches – and Matt Cain had a flawless game in 2012.
The Dodgers’ hitters showed the most consistent direction Thursday night.
NOTES: Dodgers OF Andre Ethier (broken leg) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment at Class A Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday night.
Before Buster Posey caught Matt Moore for the first time in a game last Saturday, the Giants’ catcher asked the recently acquired left-hander if he had thrown a cut fastball in his career.
Seth Lugo (1-2) pitched five scoreless innings for his first big league win. Braves starter Joel De La Cruz (0-6, 4.47) will be face the Giants for the first time.
MILWAUKEE – Andrew McCutchen hit a home run and a pair of RBI singles, including the tiebreaker in the 10th inning, and Pittsburgh beat Milwaukee to stop a nine-game skid at Miller Park.
A day earlier, the 40-year-old Ortiz reached 30 home runs and 100 RBIs.
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Elsewhere, Tampa Bay beat Boston 2-1, the Chicago White Sox edged Seattle 7-6, and Detroit defeated Minnesota 8-5.
