The Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to season-high tying four games on Sunday by successfully sweeping the Washington Nationals. The victory pulled the club to just five games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.
The Dodgers finally provided run support for Alex Wood, who contributed yet another solid outing in what was his 10th start of the season. Over six innings pitched, he allowed just just three hits and two runs with four strikeouts to one walk.
With a pitch count of just 82, Wood was slated to begin his seventh inning of work. It would mark his first time reaching the seventh inning since going eight frames against the San Francisco Giants in his 2018 debut.
But Wood experienced cramping during warmups and was promptly removed from the outing. Wood later compared the cramps to a similar occurrence that happened in a previous start against the Diamondbacks and insisted he could’ve remained in the game, per Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“It just grabbed a little bit, same as Arizona,” Wood said. “I think I was fine to keep pitching after I took a second and stretched out. But they just didn’t want to risk, with all injuries we’ve got going on lately.”
Given the abundance of injuries to hamper the starting rotation in recent weeks, it’s certainly understandable why the Dodgers were being cautious with Wood.
On Saturday, Rich Hill was removed from his start after just two pitches when he aggravated a blister on his throwing hand. He’s on the 10-day disabled list and expected to be sidelined for at least four weeks as a result.
Earlier this month, the Dodgers also lost a pair of left-handed pitchers in Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu. The latter will be out of action until after the All-Star break because of a severe groin strain.
Kershaw is currently on the disabled list with left biceps tendinitis, but threw his first bullpen session over the weekend and could be nearing a potential rehab assignment and/or return.
