Not long after Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez emphasized the importance of long outings by his starting pitchers Alex Wood went out and had a short night.
The Philadelphia Phillies scored three runs early against Wood and chased him in the fifth inning of a 5-2 victory Monday night. The Braves suffered their fifth loss in seven games and while failing to win back-to-back games for the first time since beating the New York Mets on April 10-11.
Wood (1-2) allowed nine hits and three runs in 4 1/3 innings. Gonzalez often praises Wood for his competitiveness and the lefty did grind his way through some tough innings after allowing three runs in the first but he couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning.
“It’s tough to do that, have that happen in the first inning,” Wood said. “It just takes a lot out of the guys, right out of the gate. It’s hard to give up three in the first and then expect guys to come back.”
It was Wood’s shortest start since he lasted 2 1/3 innings against the Marlins on Sept. 1, 2013. He was a spot starter out of the bullpen for much of his rookie season of 2013 and parts of the 2014 season before developing into one of the team’s best starters over the final three months of last year.
Wood has a 4.32 ERA in six starts this season and has pitched into the sixth inning in just two of those outings.
“The time is now,” Wood said. “I’ve got to make an adjustment. It’s a humbling game, to say the least. It’s one of those things where I have no doubt in my mind that I’m going to figure it out, it’s just a matter of when. I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”
Wood follows ace Julio Teheran in the rotation this season. In his previous start he was sharp against the Washington Nationals until pitcher Jordan Zimmerman knocked a three-run single, and then the Braves’ bullpen faltered in the 13-4 loss.
This time Wood found trouble early. Ben Revere lead off the game with a single and Wood retired the next two batters but Darin Ruf singled, Jeff Francoeur drove in Revere with a double and then Carlos Ruiz hit a two-run single.
Wood settled down and made it to the fifth inning with relatively little drama. But sharp one-out singles by Ruf and Francoeur prompted Gonzalez to call on Michael Kohn to relieve Wood.
“I’m not overly concerned but that’s not him,” Gonzalez said of Wood. “I’ve seen him rattle off start, after start, after start and get you deep into ballgames. Today it was 90 pitches in the fifth (inning). He hasn’t been able to get into some kind of rhythm.”
The Braves didn’t back Wood up with much support. A day after knocking around Reds ace Johnny Cueto, the Braves couldn’t solve crafty old pro Aaron Harang (3-2).
The Braves got three hits and four base runners through five innings against Harang, who retired eight consecutive batters spanning the last out of the third and the first out of the sixth. The Braves finally got something going when Andrelton Simmons smacked a one-out triple off the centerfield wall in the sixth.
Freddie Freeman reached down and outside to send Harang’s pitch through the middle for an RBI. After catcher A.J. Pierzynski hit a hard line drive that fell to left fielder Ben Revere, Jonny Gomes just missed on trimming the lead more.
Gomes hit Harang’s pitch on a line and it carried to deep center field as Braves fans buzzed in anticipation of a home run. But Herrera made a leaping catch high against the wall to end the inning.
Harang, 36, had a bounce-back season with the Braves in 2014. He provided stability in the middle of the rotation while going 12-12 with a 3.57 ERA and pitching 204 2/3 innings.
Harang parlayed that campaign it into a one-year, $5 million contract with the Phillies. Harang now has a 2.35 ERA in six starts with his new team.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Gonzalez said. “We had him on the ropes a couple times and he wiggled out of it. Here’s a veteran guy who knows how to navigate through a major-league lineup. He knows where he can go get outs. He feeds off hitters’ aggressiveness and they expand the strike zone. We did that a couple times today.”
Harang gave way to left-hander Jake Diekman to begin the seventh inning. Braves second baseman Jace Peterson reached on an infield single with one out and Cameron Maybin walked to bring up pinch hitter Phil Gosselin.
A wild pitch advanced Peterson and Maybin but Gosselin struck out. Nick Markakis hit a chopper that shortstop Freddy Galvis charged and fielded cleanly on the bounce before throwing him out to end the inning.
Francoeur broke out an 0-for-19 slump with four hits, his first game with that many since May 20, 2012, when he was with the Royals. The Parkview High product played for the Braves from 2005-2008.
