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 Wood retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced as the Dodgers
defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 on Wednesday night in front of
44,244 at Dodger Stadium.
"That's the best we've seen him pitch," Diamondbacks manager Chip
Hale said. "Early, I thought we were going to get him. Then he just
settled in and was cutting us up."
Wood (1-1) generated 13 groundouts in seven-plus innings, scattered
four hits and finished with three walks and three strikeouts.
"He was working ahead and spinning the baseball," Dodgers manager
Dave Roberts said. "Sometimes, he likes his fastball. He trusts his
fastball. But that third time through the order, he really kept them
off-balance with the change and set them up for the fastball."
In his first start April 7, Wood allowed five runs and eight hits in
five innings in suffering a 12-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
"I thought my stuff and my command was a lot better in my first
outing, but that's just baseball," Wood said. "I was a little
erratic at first but I made some pitches when I had to."
Closer Kenley Jansen retired all five batters he faced, striking out
two, to earn his third save.
Offensively, Adrian Gonzalez hit his first home run of the season
while Yasiel Puig and Chase Utley added two hits apiece for Los
Angeles.
Despite Nick Ahmed's third home run and Jean Segura's two hits, the
Diamondbacks sustained their third loss in four games.
The Dodgers broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning by
combining two hits, two fielder's choices and two errors to score
two runs. Howie Kendrick began the inning with a single off
right-hander Rubby De La Rosa's glove, then moved to third base when
Arizona center fielder Chris Owings bobbled Joc Pederson's single.
Kendrick came home when Chase Utley hit a ground ball to shortstop
Nick Ahmed, who attempted to start a double play. But Ahmed's throw
hit Pederson, who moved to third base on the error. Pederson then
scored on Corey Seager's fielder's choice.
"It looked like the ball just slipped out of Nick's hand," Hale
said. "We usually make those plays."
Arizona put the potential tying runs on base in the top of the
eighth inning. Wood retired 11 successive Diamondbacks before
pinch-hitter Phil Gosselin hit a lead-off single to chase Wood.
Gosselin hit the ball to the right side of the infield and beat Wood
to first base.
"Outside of covering first base late," Roberts said, "(Wood) did
everything right."
Ahmed then lined out against right-hander Pedro Baez but Jean Segura
followed with a walk.
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Jansen replaced Baez, struck out pinch-hitter David Peralta and
induced a deep fly out from Paul Goldschmidt to defuse the threat.
The Diamondbacks used Ahmed's third home run to take a 1-0 lead in
the top of the third. On a 1-1 pitch, Ahmed propelled Wood's 91 mph
fastball into the first row of the bleachers in left-center field.
But Los Angeles tied the score in the bottom of the fourth on Adrian
Gonzalez's first home run. Gonzalez sent De La Rosa's 97 mph
fastball on a full count one-third of the way up the bleachers in
right-center field.
Until Gonzalez's homer, De La Rosa (0-2) conceded just one hit and
one walk through 3 1/3 innings while inducing seven groundouts. The
right-hander allowed two earned runs, five hits, a walk and a hit
batter in 4 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.
"He deserved better," Hale said. "He worked quick and he was hitting
his spots. He threw the pitches he needed to get the ground balls
for the double plays."
NOTES: Joe Garagiola, the former NBC broadcaster who worked as the
Diamondbacks' part-time color commentator from 1998-2012, was buried
Wednesday in St. Louis, his hometown. Garagiola died March 23 at 90.
Team president Derrick Hall was among executives representing the
Diamondbacks. ... Arizona RHP Brad Ziegler set a club record with
his 29th consecutive save Tuesday. Ziegler broke J.J. Putz's
standard of 28 set from July 27, 2011 to April 12, 2012. ... Los
Angeles led the major leagues with 23 doubles and 85 hits entering
the game. ... Dodgers UT Howie Kendrick made his first start in left
field since 2011. Kendrick spent the vast majority of his career at
second base. ... Dodgers SS Corey Seager saw his 11-game hitting
streak dating from Oct. 1 broken. ... Dodgers C Yasmani Grandal made
his first start of the season after being activated from the
disabled list Tuesday.
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