Chicago Cubs' Travis Wood to make start against the Pittsburgh Pirates – MLB News
The Chicago Cubs will have Travis Wood as the starter for the first of three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates scheduled to be played on Friday, September 7. Wood is expected to lay a solid foundation for the rotation.
The Pirates are competing to keep the hopes alive for the Wild Card as the Cincinnati Reds top the National League Central. As for the Cubs, they will try to play a spoiler role. Given the ability to outshine their otherwise strong rivals, the Cubs seem to be well placed to do that.
Travis Wood can be instrumental in this regard even though his last few outings have not been particularly good. The fact that he has not won any game in the last 10 encounters does not uniquely place him in a good spot.
He has 0-8 record which does not reflect well on the pitcher. Nonetheless, the team manager Dale Sveum has many expectations from him since, in his views, he is making adjustments.
"He's positioned himself as one of our starters [for 2013]," manager Dale Sveum said. "He's made strides to learn how to pitch completely different than he ever has, and it's made him able to survive and have some really good games. ... He's coming, and it's been an adjustment, but I think he's done a pretty good job, too."
The last time he played against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he allowed two runs in just over five innings. He had a total of six strike-outs as the game resulted in the Cubs 4-8 loss.
The Pirates will have additional pressure to apply on Wood given the good batters at their disposal. However, the last outing that Wood had against the San Francisco Giants, he had a 5-3 lead when he exited, which much to the Cubs’ chagrin, the offence could not take forward.
Wood will have one more opportunity here to prove his mettle. He will certainly not find it easy. But as the team manager has confidence in Wood, with good support from the offence, he can make a victory possibile.
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