"I was aware of it, but I wasn't really champing the bit over it," Moyer said of the no-hit bid.
He just wanted to win. The Phillies (11-13) have won three straight series and seven of their last nine games. Although they will finish the month with a losing record, they will have a better mark than the previous two Aprils, when they finished 10-14.
They wouldn't be able to say that without Moyer, who captivated a sellout crowd of 45,107.
Moyer, 44, would have become the oldest player in baseball history to throw a no-hitter. Nolan Ryan is the oldest. He was 43 when he threw one for the Texas Rangers in 1991.
What would it have meant?
"I don't know," Moyer said. "I didn't live it."
Moyer pitched beautifully throughout. He retired the first nine batters he faced before he walked Hanley Ramirez to lead off the fourth. Two batters later, Cabrera ripped a ball into left-center field. Leftfielder Jayson Werth made a fantastic catch on the run. Werth then threw the ball to shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who fired to first to double up Ramirez and end the inning.
Moyer then retired the next eight batters he faced before Cabrera, who went 5 for 5 on Saturday, ended the no-hit bid.
Moyer threw a strike to Cabrera to make the count 2-1, but on the next pitch he threw a fastball that missed.
"I was a little upset with myself for going from 2-1 to 3-1," he said. "If I could have gone to 2-2, I think that at-bat, I'm not going to say the outcome would have been different, but my pitch selection would have been different."
Moyer threw a 3-1 fastball - it registered 80 m.p.h. on the scoreboard in right field - and Cabrera hit it.
