A’s spring training: Alex Wood sharp on mound as Oakland beats Seattle

There were good reasons why pitcher Alex Wood wanted to sign with Oakland in free agency – even aside from the $8.5 million he’ll receive from the A’s this year.

Not only would leaving the Giants and coming across the Bay allow him to become a starting pitcher again, but the 12-year veteran also relished the idea of becoming a mentor and leader on the young A’s ballclub.

“That part, I’m really excited about,” said Wood, who became the first A’s starter to work into the fifth inning during Oakland’s 4-2 spring training win over Seattle in Mesa, Ariz. on Tuesday.

In addition to Wood’s stressing the importance of hard work, focus and preparation to teammates this spring, he’s demonstrated to his fellow pitchers another way to stay grounded. The left-hander induced six ground outs and just one flyout – to go along with five strikeouts — among his 13 batters retired in 4 1/3 innings.

That’s no small deal for an A’s club that was dead last in the major leagues in getting ground balls last season. Conversely, Wood’s career ground ball percentage of 48.6% is just a shade lower than San Francisco’s major league-leading ground ball rate of 48.7% last season. You can connect the dots.

A’s second baseman Zack Gelof, who should be gobbling up plenty of grounders from Wood this season, picked up two more hits to pace the offense for Oakland (10-8). Gelof, batting a robust .412, belted an opposite field, two-run home run off Seattle starter Bryce Miller to give the A’s the lead for good in the third inning. It was his fourth home run in Arizona.

Left fielder Miguel Andujar, another of the A’s hot hitters, belted an RBI single to open the scoring. The former Yankees phenom is now hitting .406 with 13 RBIs, just one behind Dodgers’ star Freddie Freeman for the spring training lead.

Before the game, A’s manager Mark Kotsay revealed that infielder Aledmys Diaz will likely start the season on the injured list. Diaz suffered a setback during his rehabilitation from a groin injury on Monday when he strained his calf while running the bases, MLB.com reported. Diaz injured his groin two weeks ago.