Wood comes through again with pitching gem
Lefty goes 62⁄3 innings for his 10th victory; McGee gets 25th save
SAN FRANCISCO » The Giants got back on track Sunday, courtesy of Alex Wood and an offense that came up with enough meaningful hits for a 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies at Oracle Park.
Wood improved to 10-3, giving up six hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings, and got relief help from Dominic Leone, Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee, with McGee picking up his 25th save.
Considering the Giants are 11-0 in games Wood starts following a loss, it shouldn’t have come as any great surprise. But it still felt good, especially after Wood’s last start. In that game, against Arizona, he breezed into the seventh, then gave up five consecutive hits that resulted in five earned runs and a no-decision.
“It’s a nice stat to have,” Wood said of being an 11-0 stopper. “I needed a good one today. I’ve had a couple of weird ones. We made a nice adjustment on my change up, and it was good today to get a stop after a loss and
a good series win.”
Giants manager Gabe Kapler has taken notice of how Wood handles his business, especially following a loss.
“He definitely likes the ball in his hand in a big moment,” Kapler said. “I think he likes the moment of taking care of our team. I think he likes the role of taking care of our bullpen.”
A day after having their six-game winning streak snapped, the Giants improved to 76-42 in taking three of four games from the Rockies, who fell to 5266 before a crowd of 33,337.
Next up for the Giants is a three-game series against the New York Mets, who are fighting to stay in contention in the NL East.
The Giants added two runs worth of breathing room in the seventh for a 5-2 lead, although missing a chance to blow the game wide open as reliever Robert Stephenson retired Brandon Belt (shallow fly to left), Brandon Crawford (strikeout) and Mike Yastrzemski (foul pop to third) with the bases loaded and no one out.
Kris Bryant opened the seventh as a pinch hitter against Ben Bowden and reached base when Connor Joe and Garrett Hampson had a miscommunication on a fly ball to left center. The ball fell to the ground and Joe was charged with the twobase error.
Austin Slater promptly doubled to right to bring Bryant and after Darin Ruf was hit by a pitch and Tommy LaStella hit a single too solid to bring home a run, Wilmer Flores lined a single to left for the 5-2 lead.
The Rockies chased Wood in the seventh inning, but he still was the pitcher of record for a win thanks to a strike to the plate from LaMonte Wade Jr.
Joe singled with two out against Dominic Leone for what could have been the tying run, but Wade threw out Elias Diaz on the fly for the third out and the Giants led 3-2.
“Just a perfect throw and at the biggest moment of the game, no two ways about it,” Kapler said. “We don’t win the game or it’s going to be more difficult if LaMonte doesn’t make that throw.”
If Diaz had scored, it would have meant a no-decision for Wood instead of his 10th win.
“I was pretty jacked up,” Wood said. “LaMonte came up and made the play like he has all year, but this time he just happened to do it with his glove.”
Diaz, pinch-hitting earlier in the inning, drove in one run with a seeing-eye ground ball to right field to bring home Garrett Hampson, and pinch-hitter Charlie Blackmon chased Wood with an RBI single to bring home Yonathan Daza.
Losing pitcher Jon Gray (7-9) threw four shutout innings before the Giants broke loose for three runs in the fifth inning on a runscoring single by Curt Casali and a two-run double by Tommy LaStella.
Yastrzemski opened the inning with a wellplaced ground ball to he left center side of second base, and then stealing second on a ball in the dirt. Casali was next, and he hit a blooper to the left side that fell in, with third base coach Ron Wotus sending Yastrzemski on a play that looked like it would be closer than it was.
“That was a pretty aggressive send and I’m glad it worked out in our favor,” Kapler said. “We took some chances in that inning. We asked to Yaz to steal a big base for us and it was an awesome decision by Wo to send him.”
Wood walked to load the bases, and after Wade struck out, LaStella hit a ball off the top of the wall in left that was very nearly a grand slam, bring home the second and third runs of the inning.
LaStella spoke of the team-first feeling that has taken over the clubhouse.
“The team depth is huge for us,” LaStella said. “All year long, pretty much everyone we’ve plugged in has stepped up, risen to the occasion. I think it speaks to the mindset of the group here. It takes the load off one guy individually and spreads it throughout the lineup.” BRYANT’S HAMSTRING » Kapler had Ruf in left field rather Bryant after late-inning substitutions. Kapler said the move was precautionary because Bryant’s hamstring was “tight.”