LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLa. — In his 18th inning pitched this spring Alex Wood finally gave up his first earned run, and even in that inning the Braves' second-year left-hander continued to impress.
The Red Sox got a run in the fourth inning Saturday, but Wood got out of it without further damage despite four singles in the inning. The Red Sox had a runner caught in a rundown after he was fooled by Wood’s pickoff move to first base, and he struck out top prospect Xander Bogaerts with two on to end the inning.
“That’s a maturity thing,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Wood minimizing damage in the inning, something that pitching coach Roger McDowell preaches. “(Wood) knows what he’s doing out there on the mound. He doesn’t give you many good pitches to hit. And they had a pretty good lineup out there. Especially from the right side.
“So it was a good test for him at this time of the spring…. Woody was outstanding.”
He passed it with high marks, just as Wood (2-0) has passed every other test in five starts this spring. He limited the Red Sox to six hits and one run in six innings of the 6-3 Braves win, with no walks and four strikeouts.
Wood, who’ll be in the starting rotation to begin the season, has been as good any pitcher in the Grapefruit League, posting a 0.45 ERA and allowing 17 hits and two walks with 16 strikeouts in 20 innings.
It was his second start against the Red Sox, who got two hits in three scoreless innings against him on March 7 before a sold-out crowd in Fort Myers. Before another sold-out crowd (10,186) on Saturday at Champion Stadium, he outpitched Red Sox veteran John Lackey (4-2/3 innings, 10 hits, five runs).
“I don’t mind” facing Boston, he said. “I’ll face all those NL East teams when we get started (in the regular season). It’s fun to throw against those guys for the second time, especially when you go out there and compete against John Lackey. I mean, he’s probably the ultimate competitor out there. That’s kind of the way I like to go about my business on the mound out there. So it was definitely fun, even though it’s spring training and he probably wasn’t as worried about his performance today as I had to have been. It’s fun to go out there and battle against guys like him.”
