Moore, who was lifted Thursday after throwing 96 pitches in five innings in a 6-4 loss to the Twins, has expressed a desire to be allowed to go longer in his starts, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. "It's baseball. This is not Little League with pitch counts or high school where they are trying to keep you healthy and things like that. This is the major leagues - it's time to go. This is something that we prepare for.''

EDGE Analysis

The 26-year-old made his comments to reporters following Thursday's game, during which he gave up eights hits and four runs over his five frames, and also blew leads in two separate instances. Moore went on to clarify that he wasn't officially questioning manager Kevin Cash's decision-making process, but wanted to emphasize how capable he feels he and his rotation mates are of working through some of the trouble they encounter within their starts. "I'm not questioning the moves they're making, I'm just saying we do have more in the tank,'' Moore said. "That if he does allow us to go out there for the sixth or the seventh or whatever inning it is, that we are going to be okay, that we are going to be able to compete in those moments. And to us starters it doesn't matter how many times the lineups turn over. It doesn't matter who we're playing. The mentality within our group is we're going to go out there until he takes the ball from us.'' After a first month of the season that saw Moore produce quality starts in three of his five trips to the mound, he's gotten past the fifth inning only once in six subsequent starts. He's currently sporting a bloated 5.46 ERA after his latest debacle Thursday night.