SAN FRANCISCO — With an offense that’s struggling to hit with runners in scoring position, a rotation that’s been crushed with injuries and a team that appeared to be limping into the All-Star break, the Giants looked like a club that needed a jolt of energy.
Starter Alex Wood was the man who provided it.
For the second consecutive outing, Wood helped bring an end to a Giants (54-32) losing streak as he followed up a win over the Diamondbacks with a dominant performance in a 5-2 victory over the Cardinals.
“I thought it was a pretty gritty and tough outing from him and it was exactly what we needed,” manager Gabe Kapler said.
Wood tossed seven innings of one-run ball and struck out six St. Louis hitters in his best outing in two months as the Giants left-hander pushed the club 1.5 games ahead of the Dodgers in the National League West.
“I’m just so happy for a lot of the guys in our clubhouse and our team in general,” Wood said. “We’ve played such good baseball over the first half of the season and to be going into the last weekend before the break and to have a one or two game lead in a division with two of the best teams in baseball, it’s hard to ask for much more.”
The Giants left 12 runners on base in an underwhelming offensive showing against a Cardinals pitching staff that lacked control for much of the night, but three runs were all San Francisco needed as relievers Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee closed out a much-needed victory.
Rogers encountered trouble in the eighth inning as he gave up a RBI single to Paul Goldschmidt, but with two on and one out, he induced a 6-4-3 double play off of Nolan Arenado’s bat to preserve a one-run lead. McGee didn’t have quite as much stress as Rogers as Austin Slater led off the eighth inning with a single before Darin Ruf launched a two-run home run to dead center field.
A Giants team that can’t seem to go a week without losing a player to injury was forced to replace first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. in the top of the sixth with a left hand strain. It’s unclear when Wade injured his hand, but with the Giants rallying in the bottom of the fifth, Ruf came out on deck and would have hit for Wade if Wood was able to reach base before replacing him in the field in the following inning.
Wade scored the Giants’ first run of the game against Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo in the first inning after the club loaded the bases and rookie Jason Vosler was hit by a pitch. The Giants’ offense missed a chance to take the lead in the first inning as the club had the bases loaded with no outs, but after strikeouts from Alex Dickerson and Brandon Crawford, Vosler was plunked on the leg on the first pitch of his plate appearance.
San Francisco added its second run in the following inning after catcher Curt Casali and Mike Yastrzemski drilled doubles off of Oviedo. Yastrzemski’s RBI double hit the center field wall on a fly and a few pitches after he pulled in at second base, the Cardinals starter stepped off the mound and shouted at Yastrzemski who appeared to be complaining about Oviedo’s pace.
The brief exchange of words was unusual for Yastrzemski, who mouthed, “Throw a pitch,” at Oviedo after TV cameras caught the right-hander directing an expletive at the Giants outfielder.
“I think that’s normal back and forth between players who are competitive and fiery and that’s all I saw,” Kapler said.
The Giants went for a knockout punch in the fifth inning when Kapler brought pinch-hitters Wilmer Flores and Donovan Solano off the bench against Cardinals lefty Brandon Waddell, and while the club didn’t push multiple runs across, Solano did deliver a broken-bat, RBI single to bring Dickerson home.
After a challenging stretch in June in which he seemed to lose the feel for his slider, Wood has regained his command of the pitch and coupled that with improved control of his sinker on Wednesday. The southpaw got 16 called strikes with his sinker against St. Louis and mostly relied on a solid two-pitch mix as Wood only threw seven changeups.
“He takes the responsibility of pitching well when we’re not at our best very seriously,” Kapler said. “I think all of our pitchers do, but I think with Wood in particular, that’s something that’s on his mind. What was different about tonight’s game was he had all of his pitches working well.”
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SF Giants’ Alex Wood spins a gem, club extends lead in division after Dodgers lose - Vacaville Reporter
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