Wood, Cubs sweep Astros
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Travis Wood pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings and the Chicago Cubs finished off a three-game sweep, beating the Houston Astros by a 3-0 count at Wrigley Field.
Wood (3-3) remained on fire in July, holding Houston to three hits. The left- hander struck out four and did not walk any, continuing his hot hand after posting a 2.27 earned run average in June.
"That was about as good as it gets," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wood even scored the winning run, breaking a scoreless tie in the sixth after leading off the frame with a double.
"It's hard for me to bunt him, he's actually an offensive asset when he's up there," Sveum said. "Especially against a lefty, when he can get a fastball early in the count. It was the Travis Wood show today, no doubt about it."
Wandy Rodriguez (6-6) was a hard-luck loser for the Astros, allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings. He struck out three and walked just one but Houston dropped its fourth straight overall.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}J.D. Martinez and Carlos Lee were the only Astros to reach second base. Martinez hit a leadoff double to start the fifth, but he was stranded after Matt Downs, Brian Bogusevic and Brian Bixler failed to score him. Lee failed to score after delivering a two-out double in the ninth.
"He was mixing," Martinez said of Wood. "He had that cutter working. Every time you'd swing, it was off the hands. He would throw that two-seam, just kind of running it, cutting it. It's tough."
The Cubs scored all three of their runs in the sixth inning following Wood's double. Wood reached third base on Reed Johnson's groundout. After Wandy Rodriguez intentionally walked Starlin Castro, rookie Anthony Rizzo, who knocked in the winning run with a home run on Saturday, came through again, singling to right field to bring home Wood. Jeff Baker followed with a two-run double to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Shawn Camp retired the last batter in the eighth and Carlos Marmol picked up his third save of the series, working around a two-out double to pick up his eighth save and finish off the sweep.
Game Notes
The start of the game was delayed 56 minutes due to rain...The Cubs have won five of their last six games...The Cubs won two straight games started by opposing left-handers after winning just four of their first 21...In his last nine outings, Marmol is 6-for-6 in save opportunities with a 1.25 ERA (one earned run in 7 2/3 innings)...Wood has allowed three of fewer runs in eight of his nine starts for the Cubs...The Astros have lost four straight games...The Astros were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base...The Cubs went 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded three on base...Bryan LaHair and Starlin Castro were chosen to represent the Cubs in the All-Star Game and Jose Altuve will represent Houston in the game.