Travis Wood Decent In Debut With Chicago Cubs
With Matt Garza out with the flu that is making its way around the Chicago Cubs locker room, the team was forced to call up Travis Wood to make his debut with the club.
Wood was acquired in the deal that sent Sean Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds, and was expected to take one of a couple of vacant spots in the rotation. But his disastrous spring left him with a spot in Iowa.
His stay in Iowa wasn’t going too hot either, prior to his callup. Wood posted an ERA over five in his five starts with the Triple A club, with opposing hitters batting .310 off of him, which isn’t too surprising after his struggles in the spring.
Nonetheless, Wood got the call for Garza in Sunday’s series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers and immediately got a break when Matt Kemp was scratched for the lineup.
But even with the game’s best hitter out, he was still faced with the task of taking down one of the hottest teams in baseball and performed better than expected.
Wood tossed six innings of three-run ball against the Dodgers after a rain delay that lasted over two hours. He didn’t allow a run in the first before struggling a bit through the second and third, surrendering all of his three earned runs in those two innings. He struggled a bit with his control in those two innings, walking three hitters for the game.
He did overcome those struggles, though, throwing just 30 pitches in his last three innings of work against the 70 he threw in the first three frames. Overall, it wasn’t necessarily a good start by Wood, but it wasn’t terrible either.
The Cubs have a spot on the roster right now, having designated Blake DeWitt for assignment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Wood will stay. Many assume Adrian Cardenas will get the callup, but I am intrigued at the possibility of Wood getting another look at some point soon, especially considering the struggles of Chris Volstad at this point.
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