LOUISVILLE — Making his home debut for the Louisville Bats, Bryant's Travis Wood got off to a rough start but settled in and pitched well after the first inning against the Toledo Mud Hens in International League play on Thursday night. In a game that only went six innings before rain ended it with Toledo leading 5-1, Wood absorbed his first loss.
It was his second start for the Bats, the Class AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, since being called up from the Class AA Carolina Mudcats. At Carolina, Wood, son of Jay and Dena Wood of the Bryant area, had won a club record nine straight decisions after opening the season 0-3.[more]
Against Toledo, the lefty worked into the sixth innings after surrendering four runs in the first inning. A lead-off double and a single were followed by a sacrifice fly to get Toledo on the board in the first. Another base hit made it 2-0 then Wilkin Ramirez hit a two-run homer.
But Wood got out of the inning with a grounder and a flyout.
In the second, a lead-off walk was erased by a double play then Wood recorded his first strikeout. The third also started with a walk but a groundout and a pair of strikeouts followed. Wood also worked a 1-2-3 fourth with another strikeout.
Louisville threatened to score in the fifth with a one-out single, a walk and, with two down, another base hit but the lead runner was thrown out at the plate to end the frame. When the sixth inning began with a single and a hit batsman, Wood was relieved. A subsequent single drove in the game's fifth run which was also charged to Wood.
The rain ended the game with two out in the bottom of the inning.
In five-plus innings, Wood allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out four. The five runs were all earned, bumping his earned run average over his two games to 4.63.
