Photo by Chris Mezzavilla/KNBR
SAN FRANCISCO–In a perfect world, this was supposed to happen before the All-Star break.
The Giants were supposed to pick up their 50th win of the season back at the beginning of July. And they were supposed to have Friday night’s version of Matt Moore –a sharp, often dominant Moore– all season.
But as Giants fans have come to learn, 2017 has been far from perfect.
On Friday night, though, the Giants did have the best version of Matt Moore, and they finally recorded their 50th win of the season in a 10-2 victory over the Phillies. It just happened to come on August 18.
A year ago, the Giants were the first team in the Major Leagues to win 50 games, as they recorded a 12-6 win over the Oakland A’s on June 30 to move 19 games over .500 and maintain a six-game lead over the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers.
This year, it took a bit longer –yes, a month and a half longer– but on Friday evening, Moore looked like he belonged, and the Giants took care of business at home, where they’ve won nine of their last 12.
Last year, the Giants were still a month away from acquiring Moore in a deadline trade from Tampa Bay when San Francisco won its 50th game. This year, he’s played a critical role in the Giants’ struggles, as he notched just his fourth win in his 25th start of the year.
Moore’s struggles have been as well-documented as any this season, and on Thursday afternoon, general manager Bobby Evans indicated the final six weeks of the season would go a long way toward determining whether or not the Giants would pencil the lefty into their rotation come 2018.
Even though Moore’s contract is team-friendly –San Francisco can pick up a $9 million option on Moore this offseason– it’s impossible to be certain a pitcher who’s spent the majority of the season with the worst ERA in the National League is worth that investment.
So after turning in a seven-inning performance against the Washington Nationals on Sunday evening in which he allowed just two earned runs, Moore built upon the effort with a sharp outing against the Phillies on Friday. In 7.1 innings, Moore gave up just two hits, and though he did walk four batters, the left-hander kept the Phillies out of the contest for much of the evening.
“I think for a lot of the season I was overthrowing,” Moore said. “I found myself throwing each pitch too hard. As a starting pitcher throwing 110 pitches in a game and 70 to 80 getting ready for the game, it’s just too much to be gritting through. I do feel like after the break that was something I was working on — just making sure I’m not white-knuckling too much.”
The 28-year-old southpaw was buoyed by an early explosion from the Giants’ offense, which tallied three runs in the first, one in the second, and a pair in the third to stake out an early 6-0 advantage.
“That’s always nice,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “It lets your pitcher get settled in because it takes a lot of pressure off of him I think. Not that it should change his gameplan or what he’s trying to do but there’s no question early runs, it’s a good thing for everybody. And for the dugout. The energy and what it brings. You keep adding on.”
The three-run first started with three consecutive base hits against Phillies’ right-hander Zach Eflin, who surrendered a leadoff single to Denard Span, a double to Hunter Pence and an RBI double to Jarrett Parker. An RBI single from Pablo Sandoval later in the inning pushed across Parker
Pence carried over his early success at the plate to the second inning, when he launched a breaking ball from Eflin into the left center field bleachers to up San Francisco’s advantage to 4-0. It was Pence’s 11th home run of the season, and just his third at AT&T Park this season.
It wasn’t the only home run the Giants hit off of Eflin, as shortstop Brandon Crawford launched a two-run blast toward the same part of the yard in the bottom of the third. For Crawford, it marked his 10th home run of the year, and more importantly, it gave Moore an even larger lead to work with against a Phillies’ team that entered the game with the second-fewest runs of any team in the Major Leagues.
Moore stifled a Phillies’ lineup that knocked him out after just four innings back in June, as the left-hander was on the hill when the Giants lost the rubber match of a road series in Philadelphia. In that outing, Moore gave up five runs, four of which were earned, in a deflating loss that contributed to the worst series defeat of the season for San Francisco.
Though Moore and the Giants weren’t much better in the months of June and July, San Francisco improved to 10-7 in the month of August, and ensured the club would guarantee at least a series split in this weekend’s four-game set. The Giants’ 10th victory of the month also bested the team’s win totals for June and July, months in which the franchise won just nine games.
“He’s (Moore) got a good rhythm going,” Bochy said. “He’s not overthrowing at all. It looks like he’s playing catch with Buster, that’s the effort he’s putting in right now. I think he’s helped his command on all of his pitches and he’s throwing quality strikes — he’s got a good breaking ball going with the changeup. He used all four pitches. It was a really, really nice game tonight. It’s good to see him go back-to-back good starts.”