Moore struggles again as Giants lose for 12th time in 13 games
Starting pitcher can’t rebound; Mets sweep Bochy’s sagging squad
SAN FRANCISCO — Barely one year ago, the Giants owned the best record in baseball and they were distilling their list of trade targets that could put them over the top.
Matt Moore’s name kept coming up in their internal discussions. They liked his stuff, his upside and his relative youth. They saw a pitcher ready to turn a corner after missing a season to Tommy John elbow surgery. And they loved his contract, which included affordably priced club options through the 2019 season. So they crossed a tough bridge and sacrificed a popular player, third baseman Matt Duffy, as part of a package to acquire Moore from the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Giants do not own the best record in baseball now. They have gone from disappointing to non-competitive, even against the worst teams in the league. Their 8-2 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday followed a brutally familiar pattern — too many mistakes, not enough extrabase hits — as they were swept in a three-game series against a club that entered having lost four consecutive at Dodger Stadium.
Don’t look now, but the Colorado Rockies are coming to town next. They’ve already beaten the Giants in 10 of 11 meetings this season.
Before Giants manager Bruce Bochy went to the postgame interview room, he met individually with several players.
“The baseball gods for some reason are testing us here with this group,” Bochy said. “It’s not as if they aren’t coming out ready or trying. But enough is enough. It’s time to get this turned around. With what’s happened, I don’t think anybody expected or predicted it.”
Rising tides lift all boats. So does playing the Giants, it turns out. They lost for the 12th time in 13 games — a stretch they have not endured since 1992, when owner Bob Lurie nearly sold them to St. Petersburg, Fla.
They are somewhere nearer to baseball’s Siberia now. They are on pace for a 56-106 season.
And once again, Moore is among those weighing them down. The left-hander was coming off a promising start at Atlanta, but he got hit hard for five runs on seven hits and three walks in 41⁄3 innings.
“The last couple months, there’s nothing I’m happy with,” said Moore, whose 6.08 ERA is the highest among all National League starters.
“I did and I do still have big expectations for myself to be able to execute every fifth day. Part of that is getting back to the things I have to do well, and then build on that with other things. I still feel good each time I go out. I understand the stuff that’s coming out is good.”
Moore abandoned his cutter for a third consecutive start, putting faith in his four-seam fastball while hoping that narrowing his repertoire could narrow his focus.
But his mistakes were both avoidable and egregious. He set up a free run for the Mets from the getgo, when he issued a leadoff walk to Curtis Granderson and then threw a wild pitch that ceded scoring position.
Then Moore made a needless, two-out mistake over the plate to No. 8 batter Rene Rivera, and the backup catcher hit a tworun home run in the second inning. Rivera added a solo shot in the fourth when Moore tried to slip a changeup past him.
Credit Moore with one saving act. He did a credible job pitching through the Mets lineup in the third inning to pick up rookie third baseman Ryder Jones, who booted a ground ball for a two-base error that put a pair of runners into scoring position. Moore somehow wiggled his way without giving up a run.
But in the end, it was another ineffective start for Moore, who hasn’t won consecutive starts this season.
The Giants will have very different internal conversations leading to the trade deadline this season. Moore is one of their few established players who doesn’t have a toxic contract. Even if they wanted to unload Moore, given the way he’s pitched, what could they hope to get for him?
Moore did not hold a monopoly on mediocrity Sunday. The Giants couldn’t do damage against a righthander Rafael Montero, who entered with an 0-4 record and 6.49 ERA.
It wasn’t just the strikeouts and lack of clutch hits. Some of the innings were beyond baffling.
The Giants loaded the bases with one out in the third inning on two singles and a walk, and Buster Posey followed with a sacrifice fly. But with Brandon Belt at the plate and runners at the corners, Hunter Pence was thrown out trying to steal second base. He protested and signaled that a replay review was in order, but the Giants did not request one. Pence either didn’t feel the tag applied to his sleeve, or he stood on the base in solitude and deep denial.
Bochy said he did not send Pence. But he didn’t have a stop sign up, either, noting that Montero was “1.5-1.6 (seconds to the plate), which is a time you do run on.”
It was the second time this month that Pence was thrown out in telling fashion. He hasn’t only lost a step in right field.
Injured ace Madison n Bumgarner is hitting off a tee as he continues his rehab from a separated left shoulder sustained in a dirt bike accident April 20 in Colorado. He even dragged the tee onto a field at the Giants’ minor league complex in Arizona so he could gauge his contact.
No, he did not hit any home runs.
“That would be pretty hard to do,” Bochy said.
Bumgarner was scheduled to throw three innings in a start for the Giants’ affiliate in the rookie-level Arizona League on Sunday. If all goes well, the next step would be a rehab start on Friday at Triple-A Sacramento. He’s expected to return to the rotation after the All-Star break, likely nearer to Aug. 1.
Left fielder Austin n Slater left the game in the seventh inning because of a tight left hip flexor.
Right-hander Hunter n Strickland returned from his six-game suspension and pitched the ninth, serving up a home run to Granderson.