Moore one shy of no-no
San Francisco lefty Matt Moore lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth inning on a soft, clean single by Corey Seager, but the Giants still beat the rival Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 at Dodger Stadium.
Moore’s try ended on his 133rd pitch. It was Seager Bobblehead Night, and a sellout crowd cheered Moore after the ball plopped onto the grass in shallow right field.
Moore was pulled immediately. Giants manager Bruce Bochy had been pacing in the dugout for a couple of innings as Moore’s pitch count climbed — he missed most of the last two seasons after Tommy John surgery.
Giants center fielder Denard Span sprinted for two outstanding catches, including a leadoff grab in the ninth, to give Moore a chance.
Moore earned his first win for the Giants since they got him in a trade with Tampa Bay on Aug. 1.
The 27-year-old Moore nearly gave San Francisco a major league record five straight years with a no-hitter. And he almost became the first Giants pitcher to no-hit the archrival Dodgers since 1915, when New York’s Rube Marquard stopped Brooklyn.
Moore struck out seven and walked three. Reliever Santiago Casilla needed just one pitch to get the final out.
The win moved the Giants within two games of the NL West leaders.
Narrowly avoiding the no-no ended an emotional day for the Dodgers, who acquired Carlos Ruiz from Philadelphia in a trade of backup catchers, getting a popular player with a world of postseason experience.
The Phillies also sent $1 million to the Dodgers for A.J. Ellis — long a favorite of staff ace Clayton Kershaw — minor league pitcher Tommy Bergjans and a player to be named or cash.
Mets 10, Cardinals 6 — Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright lost his glove trying to tag out Yoenis Cespedes and lost the game, too, when Alejandro De Aza homered and drove in five runs to send visiting New York past St. Louis.
Seth Lugo (1-2) pitched five scoreless innings for his first big league win. The Mets took 2-of-3 to win their first series at Busch Stadium since 2008.
Braves 3, Diamondbacks 1— In Phoenix, Matt Wisler — called up from Triple A — didn’t allow the Arizona Diamondbacks a hit for six innings and led the Braves to a 3-1 victory.
The 23-year-old Wisler (5-11) allowed a run and two hits with four strikeouts and three walks in eight innings. Jim Johnson pitched the ninth inning for his 12th save.
Paul Goldschmidt broke up Wisler’s no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the seventh, then scored on Chris Owings’ groundout.
Pirates 3, Brewers 2 — Andrew McCutchen hit a home run and a pair of RBI singles, including the tiebreaker in the 10th as Pittsburgh stopped a nine-game skid at Miller Park.
Interleague
Royals 5, Marlins 2 — Alcides Escobar homered and drove in two runs to lead surging Kansas City past Miami, the visiting Royals 15th win in 18.
Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez (10-10) pitched five innings, allowing two unearned runs and three hits. The Royals bullpen pitched four scoreless innings to push its franchise-record streak to 382⁄ innings. 3
Salvador Perez and Kendrys Morales also drove in runs for the defending World Series champions, who start a three-game series against the Red Sox tonight at Fenway.
Nationals 4, Orioles 0 — Max Scherzer allowed two hits in eight innings and Bryce Harper’s two-run double helped host Washington avoid a four-game, home-and-home sweep by blanking Baltimore.
Scherzer (14-7) struck out 10 and did not walk a batter. He retired 12 straight after Adam Jones’ fourth-inning double and 21-of-22 before Mark Trumbo’s leadoff single in the eighth.
The Nationals, which acquired lefthanded reliever Marc Rzepczynski from Oakland for a minor leaguer before the game, had lost four straight.
American League
Angels 6, Blue Jays 3 — Albert Pujols reached the 100-RBI mark for the 13th time, the fifth player in history to achieve the feat, and Mike Trout had three hits and drove in four runs as visiting Los Angeles stopped Toronto and kept the Red Sox in a first-place tie in the AL East.
Jered Weaver pitched 52⁄ innings to 3 snap a three-start losing streak and prevent J.A. Happ from becoming the first 18-game winner in the majors. After winning 11 straight decisions, Happ (17-4) allowed four runs and six hits in five innings.
White Sox 7, Mariners 6 — Todd Frazier tied it with an RBI single in the seventh inning and won it with a line drive down the left-field line in the ninth to lift Chicago past visiting Seattle, which has lost three straight and fallen 7A games behind AL Westleading Texas.
Rangers 9, Indians 0 — In Arlington, Texas, Cole Hamels allowed only two singles in eight innings for his 14th victory, Carlos Gomez hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat and AL-best Texas thumped Cleveland in the opener of a four-game series matching division leaders.
Hamels (14-4) retired 19 straight batters after Francisco Lindor’s solid two-out single to left in the first. The only other baserunner for the Indians was Carlos Santana after a leadoff hit in the eighth.
Tigers 8, Twins 5 — In Minneapolis, James McCann had a three-run homer among his four hits, Daniel Norris pitched into the seventh inning and Detroit — 10-2 against Minnesota this year — completed a sweep for the Twins’ seventh straight defeat.