Moore rocked again in a clunker
The Giants, who aren’t exactly sprinting to the All-Star break, must make some serious rotation decisions after they reassemble and reunite with Madison Bumgarner.
Matt Moore didn’t help his status in Friday’s series-opening 6-1 loss to the Marlins at AT&T Park. The left-hander’s rough season continued as he coughed up five runs on 12 hits in 31⁄3 innings.
It was that good only because Cory Gearrin replaced Moore with runners at the corners and got a double play to end the fourth. Moore’s ERA is a not-so-spectacular 6.04.
Giancarlo Stanton treated Moore like a batting practice pitcher, hitting two blasts to right field, one that cleared the 25-foot brick wall and another that nearly did — a rare demonstration by a right-handed hitter.
If it was a prelude to Monday’s Home Run Derby in Mi-
ami, Stanton has a great chance to defend his title.
“One big problem is,” said Moore when asked what went wrong in the first half, “when I get ahead, I don’t finish hitters often. Left-handed hitters are having way too easy of a time. Being left-handed myself, those have to be outs. And my walk rate has been a big deal for me.”
With Bumgarner likely returning to the rotation during the Giants’ series in San Diego following the break, someone will need to be discarded.
Moore, acquired before last year’s trade deadline for popular Matt Duffy, helped the Giants reach the postseason and pitched solidly against the Cubs in Game 4 of the Division Series, only to watch an epic bullpen meltdown.
The Giants like Moore’s contract, which has team-friendly options in 2018 and 2019, but his work this season — they’re 5-13 in his starts, and, yes, there were a few boos Friday — hasn’t exactly secured his future with the team.
“I’m sure he’s frustrated,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s trying to get on track. He’s trying different things, whether to stay with the fastball or throw more secondary pitches, which is not uncommon for pitchers when they’re not as consistent as they’d like to be.”
Perhaps it’s more likely the Giants will remove Matt Cain, whose ERA isn’t much better than Moore’s at 5.58. Cain’s contract ends after this season, and the Giants would prefer looking at pitching prospects such as Tyler Beede.
Bochy said it’s possible Johnny Cueto, who was scratched from Thursday’s start with an inner ear infection, will start Sunday, the final game before the break. In place of Cain.
It would give contending teams an extra look at Cueto, who can opt out after the season and could be trade bait.
Bumgarner, recovering from his April 20 dirt-bike accident, will make another rehab start Monday at Class A San Jose, throwing 90 pitches, and Bochy said if the lefty comes out of it OK, he’ll pitch in next weekend’s series in San Diego.
Bumgarner, who threw a bullpen session and took batting practice Friday, is coming off two rough rehab outings, but results aren’t considered as important as health and arm strength.
“It’s more about getting ready,” Bochy said. “It’s similar to spring training, where you don’t go on results as much.”
After the Giants won six in a row, they’ve returned to their old habits and dropped three of four. Friday, they were outhit 16-5 and didn’t score until Denard Span’s ninth-inning homer into McCovey Cove, the Giants’ 74th splash hit in the ballpark’s 18-year history.
Moore fell behind 4-0 in the first inning on Stanton’s tworun homer and JT Riddle’s two-run single. Justin Bour added an RBI single in the second, and J.T. Realmuto homered off Gearrin in the fifth.
Moore will relax over the break and said he’ll fish and play some golf before trying to turn around his season.
“I’ve got the whole second half to figure out the things keeping me from getting into the seventh and eighth inning,” he said.