Wood shines in final tuneup, but Kapler remains mum on SF Giants rotation plans
OAKLAND – Alex Wood looks ready for the start of the regular season. Now with Opening Day just days away, it’s just a question of where he’ll slot in the Giants’ rotation.
Wood allowed three hits and struck out 10 over 5 1/3 innings Sunday as the Giants beat the A’s 9-5 in the first game of the exhibition Bay Bridge Series at the Coliseum. Wood used a 90-91 mph sinker to record five strikeouts, and a low-80s slider to pick up the other five.
The Giants play the A’s again Monday at Oracle Park then travel to the Bronx to face the New York Yankees for a season-opening three-game series that starts Thursday. Manager Gabe Kapler said the Giants have “a good feel” for what the rotation will be for the series, which continues with games next Saturday and Sunday, but that he wasn’t ready to make an announcement beyond Logan Webb’s start Thursday.
Certainly Wood’s performance Sunday is an encouraging sign that he’s ready to go, in whichever way the rotation question plays out.
“Just about all camp coming into this game, he looked like the Alex Wood from the last couple of years,” Kapler said. “Really, really sharp with his breaking ball in the zone, fastball has good life to it, controlling the pace of the game, coming out reporting good things, hitting his spots. He looks good.”
In four spring training starts, Wood had 24 strikeouts over 15 innings.
“It’s a fragile game. You don’t know what’s going to happen start to start, so you’ve got to kind of trust the process,” Wood said. “The longer you play, the more you want to focus on mechanically and physically. I feel like my stuff is really good.”
Kapler said the Giants will decide what to do with right-hander Alex Cobb after he starts a backfield minor league game Monday in Scottsdale. Cobb has been bothered by a bruised left knee since March 11 when he took a comebacker against the Dodgers.
CONFUSING MOMENT: In the top of the sixth inning, players for both teams, the umpiring crew and most others inside the stadium mistakenly thought there were three outs after Luis Matos grounded into a fielder’s choice. There were only two, but by the time everyone realized the mistake, Wood had already taken the mound and was starting to warm up for the bottom of the inning. The Giants then went back to the dugout and the A’s went back to their defensive positions.
“Everybody in the stadium did the same thing,” Kapler said. “Scoreboard, outs, dugouts. umpires. I think it was just the way the players reacted on the field. That was really funny. I’d never seen that before.”
NOTES: David Villar and Joc Pederson both homered for the Giants and Brett Auerbach went 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs. Jakob Junis allowed one hit and struck out two in two innings of relief.