Alex Wood is in his fifth Major League season. He’s pitched out of the bullpen to varying degrees in all but one year — 2015. Wood was squeezed out of the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation at the start of the season. He’s gone on to become their best starter behind Clayton Kershaw.
Wood pitched well in his relief appearances and carried that into starts when Rich Hill’s recurring blister twice opened a window of opportunity. On Friday night at Great American Ball Park, Wood turned in arguably the best start of his career.
If not for a Devin Mesoroco home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, the 26-year-old would have gone eight scoreless innings.
Nonetheless, Wood allowed just the one run on four hits, and had four strikeouts against zero walks. He even added an RBI single in the top of the eighth to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0.
Wood believes the string of dominant performances is the best stretch of his career, per Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“This is the best my stuff has ever been,” Wood said. “I’ve been saying it all year. Just because of that, this is the best roll I’ve ever been on.”
On the season the left-hander is 7-0 with a 1.92 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in 12 games (10 starts). Whether starting or pitching out of the bullpen, Wood has allowed more than four earned runs in only two games; both of which were starts.
Wood had a scoreless streak that reached 27.1 consecutive innings before being snapped by the Reds in his June 10 start at Dodger Stadium.
As the young southpaw was in the midst of the scoreless stretch, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts referred to Wood as “1A” to Kershaw.
