DURHAM, N.C. — In the first round of the International League playoffs, Bryant's Travis Wood started for the Louisville Bats and worked five innings, leaving with the game with the Durham Bulls tied 3-3. Durham (Tampa Bay Rays) went on to claim an 8-4 win.
Wood allowed three runs, two earned on six hits. He walked three, struck out five and committed a pair of throwing errors in his five frames.[more]
The lefty issued a two-out walk in the first inning. A single followed but right fielder Jay Bruce gunned down the lead runner trying to take third on the play, ending the inning.
Louisville (Cincinnati Reds) took a 2-0 lead in the second when Juan Francisco, following a walk to Todd Frazier, belted a home run. In turn, Wood worked around a two-out walk in the bottom of the inning.
After the Bats stranded runners at second and third in the top of the third, a lead-off single was all Durham could manage against Wood in the bottom of the inning.
A solo homer by Chris Denove with two down in the top of the fourth gave Louisville a 3-0 lead and Wood made that hold up by pitching around a walk and a hit batsman to open the home fourth. He fanned a batter, induced a groundout and a pop up to preserve the shutout.
In the bottom of the fifth, however, Ray Olmedo beat out an infield single that Wood fielded. An errant throw to first allowed Olmedo to take second. A base hit by Desmond Jenkins put runners at the corners but Wood struck out Rashad Eldridge and got Joe Dillon to bounce back to the mound. But Wood, trying to get a force at second (and perhaps start an inning-ending doubleplay), was charged with a throwing error and Olmedo scored. A single to right by Matt Joyce made it 3-2.
After a visit from the Louisville pitching coach, Sean Rodriguez tied the game on an infield hit.
But Wood finished the inning by striking out the next two batters, forcing Durham to strand the go-ahead runner at second.
Federico Baez came on in relief for the Bats to start the home sixth and Durham erupted for five runs to take control of the game.
Durham took a 1-0 lead in the best of five series with the winner of the series advancing to the International League championships against the survivor of the series between Scranton/Wilkes Barre (New York Yankees) and Gwinnett (Atlanta Braves).
