As Matt Moore chased history in his no-hit bid against the Dodgers on Thursday, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had one eye on the mound and the other on Moore's pitch count..
By the end of the seventh inning, Moore had thrown 95 pitches. That's a lot of pitches through seven, especially for a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery, as Moore had in 2014.
So when Moore walked Yasmani Grandal to open the eighth, Bochy got the bullpen up. But he left Moore in to work his way through the rest of the inning, a tough, 25-pitch inning that left Moore's no-hitter intact, but at a price. He'd thrown 119 pitches through eight innings, five more than he'd thrown in any game since coming back from surgery.
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When Moore returned to the dugout, Bochy pulled him aside.
“Listen,” Bochy told him, according to CSNBayArea.com. “I know what a great opportunity you have here …”
Moore responded: “I’m telling you, I couldn’t feel better.”
With that, Bochy let Moore take the mound for the ninth in his bid to become the first Giant in 101 years to no-hit the Dodgers.
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Denard Span saved the no-hitter with a sliding catch of Enrique Hernandez's liner in left center. Moore then retired Howie Kendrick on a groundout before Corey Seager blooped a single to right to end the no hitter.
Moore's night was done, after 8 2/3 innings and a career-high 133 pitches. Santiago Casilla came in from the bullpen to record the final out of the Giants 4-0 victory.
Afterward, Bochy — who once let Tim Lincecum throw 148 pitches in a no-hitter — had no regrets about letting Moore run up the pitch count.
“It’s hard to deny a veteran who has a chance to make history,” Bochy said.
“They used to not even count pitches, right?” Moore told reporters afterward. “I appreciate the skip taking my word for it there.”