D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
Gabe Kapler cares deeply about how quickly his pitchers work. He wants his defense engaged, he wants opposing hitters feeling rushed, he wants quick innings and then long at-bats from Giants batters.
“I’m just so impressed by his pace,” was the first compliment the manager paid Alex Wood.
And yet, Friday’s signature moment involved play freezing on a chilly night when the fans were frozen, too.
Jazz Chisholm, one of the most electric young players in baseball and one who led off Wood’s night with a bullet home run to right, seemed to be the only Marlin who could see Wood well. He put another charge into a slider in the sixth and rocketed it 101.3 mph straight back up the middle, as if the ball and Wood’s glove were magnetically attracted.
I love Jazz Chisholm pic.twitter.com/4wmvVMVgEM
— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) April 24, 2021
Wood was asked about the “excuse me” play.
“No excuse me, I snagged that thing. 100 percent I snagged that thing,” he said with a laugh. “He hit it hard enough, and it was close enough to my body where I could react.”
Chisholm did not react. Or move, at least. He rested on his bat, his other hand on his hip and stared back at Wood for a few seconds in disbelief. The fans grew louder, and Chisholm began to smile as he slowly retreated to the Marlins’ dugout, then tipped his helmet to the stands.
Wood allowed himself a smile and called Chisholm a “great player” afterward. Wood has plenty to keep smiling about.
For a second straight start off the injured list, and a second straight start against Miami, the lefty was brilliant. He will face better lineups than the Marlins, but the Marlins’ is a righty-heavy lineup that should hit him better than it has. And after Chisholm’s leadoff bomb, they did not touch him.
Wood went seven strong innings, not allowing a hit after his third pitch of the game, only allowing one fourth-inning walk. He worked quickly and efficiently, totaling 97 pitches. He was around the plate throughout and struck out seven, including five in a row in one span, and was comfortable enough with his fastball-changeup-slider combination to always have an answer.
“I didn’t feel great early with my changeup and my fastball command those first two innings,” Wood said after the 5-3 Giants win at Oracle Park. “But I felt like I really settled in, started clipping some really good changeups and started commanding my fastball.”
He got plenty of groundball outs — nine, versus five flyball outs — but kept going back to his slider whenever he needed a strike or strikeout. He got 10 swings and misses on the pitch and seven called strikes. The Marlins had seen the pitch quite a bit last week, but they were not able to hit it any better.
He has been toying with the slider, which he called unique and says it profiles like a “mini curveball.”
“It’s been really good so far,” said Wood, whose ERA is now a tidy 0.75. “It’s not so much the swing and misses or the strikeouts with my slider, it’s the ones I’ll throw in zone that I’m getting ground balls on. That’s a really good sign for me moving forward, that it’s a sustainable pitch. It’s a pitch that’s going to be a real weapon for me throughout the course of the season.”
He is an analytically inclined pitcher in a system that very much appreciates that.
Because of injuries, he only totaled 48 1/3 innings the previous two seasons with Cincinnati and the Dodgers. His health is a clear risk, but the results are showing why it’s one that the Giants took.
“I guess I’m not surprised because I know Alex, how hard he works and how he prepares for these outings,” Kapler said. “…I’ve seen so much of him over the years and seen him do this to teams that I’ve been on.”
Catching Wood was Buster Posey, who made his 1,000th start as Giants catcher, the first in franchise history to hit that mark.
“It’s a nice accomplishment,” Posey said. “Being able to stay on the field takes a lot of diligence and hard work in the offseason, during the season. Takes a great training staff. I’ve talked before about how highly I think of Dave Groeschner and his staff and [head athletic trainer] Anthony Reyes and [physical therapist] Tony Reale.
“I think all those guys putting their heads together to figure out the best way to keep you on the field and be as productive as possible. It takes a lot of different people to make that happen.”
His 1,000th was a difficult one, with Chisholm connecting on his backswing with Posey’s head.
Posey said he was OK, though Kapler did not pinch-hit Curt Casali late in the game to ensure there would be a backup plan.
Instead, Anthony DeSclafani was the surprise pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and struck out. Kapler said he wanted to stay away from Evan Longoria (hamstring).