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Matt Moore: ‘It doesn’t feel like it’s far off’

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One start after tying his career-high in walks with six, Giants’ left-hander Matt Moore matched another career-high he hoped to avoid altogether.

Moore took the hill against the Miami Marlins on Friday evening at AT&T Park and lasted just 3 and 1/3 innings as a Marlins’ lineup led by power-hitter Giancarlo Stanton roughed Moore up to the tune of 12 hits, which tied a career-high Moore set back in 2013 with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Giants’ skipper Bruce Bochy said that after Moore experienced significant command issues in Pittsburgh on Saturday, he was pleased with his starter’s ability to pound the strike zone against Miami. Nevertheless, Bochy and Moore were both frustrated that Moore left too many pitches over the heart of the plate, and the Marlins lineup wasted little time making him pay for his mistakes.

“I’m sure he’s (Moore) frustrated,” Bochy said. “He’s trying to get on track and he’s trying different things whether it’s stay with the fastball or throw more secondary pitches which is not uncommon for pitchers when they’re not consistent or as consistent as they would like to be but I know the plan for him tonight was he was going to pound that strike zone because he did a good job of it when you look at the ball-strike ratio and like I said, he got ahead, he just left some balls up.”

Friday marked Moore’s last start before the All-Star break, and with the loss, his record dropped to 3-9 and his earned run average climbed to 6.04, the highest mark among starting pitchers in the Major Leagues.

Moore expressed disappointment on Friday that he couldn’t go into the break on a better note, especially considering all the struggles he’s faced in what’s quickly becoming the worst season of his professional career.

“I’d rather have the break sitting on a good start, a nice quality start where we win the game,” Moore said. “So I can’t say I won’t be anxious for me next one while we are waiting out the All-Star break but the things I can control right now are moving forward and onto the next one as far as just making sure that physically I’m in a good spot for my next start I think.”

Marlins’ left-handed hitters crushed Moore on Friday, as seven of the 12 hits Miami pounded out came off the bats of lefties. Moore, a left-hander himself, said he’s hoping that spending some time ironing out his weaknesses in bullpen sessions will help him turn his season around, because he still believes he’s not far off from having success.

“There’s some work in the bullpen that can, maybe adjusting some sights with the breaking balls or getting the cutter off the plate a little bit more, but it doesn’t feel like it’s far off that’s for sure,” Moore said.

Over the past few weeks, Bochy has been asked about shuffling the Giants’ rotation or skipping a pitcher’s start on a handful of occasions, and after Friday’s game, the Giants’ manager hinted that San Francisco may be searching for new ideas to help Moore become more comfortable on the mound. At this point, though, Moore said he’s hoping to use the second half of the season as an opportunity to steer himself back on course after experiencing the greatest challenges of his career.

“I think relief pitchers maybe think of it in the sense of a month, when a new month starts it’s kind of like a new season,” Moore said. “Hitters at times can restart day-to-day, for me I think just trying to have something that I can set my sights on, yeah, I’ve got the whole second half to figure out the things that are kind of keeping me from getting into the seventh and eighth inning and you know, I think that is one of the things that I am looking forward to.”