A sloppy and uncharacteristic effort resulted in the Los Angeles Dodgers falling to the Atlanta Braves, 12-3, for a second consecutive loss. It marked the first time the Dodgers dropped two games in a row since losing three straight from June 4-6. The loss was also Wood’s first of the season.
Jaime Garcia, who was nearly traded to the Minnesota Twins on Thursday, made the most of what may have been his final start for the Braves this season. He threw seven strong innings, allowing three runs and accounting for six (four RBI) of Atlanta’s runs.
Much like they did against Brandon McCarthy in the series opener, the Braves struck early. They needed a bit of luck, however. An infield single to open the game was cashed in when Johan Camago followed with a double that scored a run because Yasmani Grandal dropped the relay throw.
It was the first run Wood allowed during the month of July, and he was one out away from that being it but surrendered an RBI single to Tyler Flowers. Wood then settled in throw consecutive scoreless innings before disaster struck in the fourth.
A Nick Markakis single and Sean Rodriguez walk put two on with one out. Both runners advanced on a slicing fly ball to right field, in some part due to Yasiel Puig throwing to the wrong base.
That loomed large when Garcia lifted a routine pop-up down the first-base line. Cody Bellinger didn’t appear to have a read on the ball and Wood dropped it, allowing two runs to score on the error.
A walk followed, but the Braves’ lead remained 4-0. Wood needed 28 pitches to get through the fourth inning, which brought his total in the game to 74. Freddie Freeman’s solo home run to lead off the fifth put the Dodgers in a bigger deficit.
It marked the second time this season Wood allowed five runs in a game. The Dodgers won the previous instance, defeating the San Francisco Giants, 13-5 on May 2. Freeman’s homer and the five runs allowed, as it turned out, was not the worst of it.
Wood intentionally walked the bases loaded with one out in the fifth inning. He struck out Dansby Swanson, only to surrender a grand slam to Garcia on an 0-2 pitch.
The book closed on Wood at 4.2 innings pitched, nine runs (seven earned) allowed, four walks, four strikeouts and 100 pitches. He’d held opponents to a combined six earned runs over 62 innings in his previous 10 starts.
A Kiké Hernandez single and Grandal ground-rule double led to the Dodgers getting on the board in the bottom of the fifth, behind Puig’s groundout.
Tyler Flowers tagged Grant Dayton for a three-run home run in the sixth to put the game well out of reach. Hernandez’s triple to score Bellinger from first base and Grandal’s RBI groundout in the seventh inning were all the Dodgers could manage once they faced a large deficit.
