OAKLAND — Alex Wood embraced his first career Opening Day start as an opportunity to set the tone for a rebuilding A’s club that hopes to take a big step forward in 2024. It was a chance for the 33-year-old left-hander to lead his new young pitching staff by example.
Things couldn’t have started much better. Wood opened up by making quick work of the first three hitters in the Guardians’ lineup, retiring Steven Kwan, José Ramírez and Ramón Laureano on nine pitches.
That first inning — which ended less than five minutes after first pitch — was a demonstration of why the A’s targeted Wood as a free agent this offseason. At his best, he works fast, throws a ton of strikes and generates quick outs. It was a tone-setting inning, but also his only clean frame of the night.
After the first, Wood pitched with traffic on the bases in each inning that followed in Thursday’s 8-0 loss to the Guardians at the Coliseum. The fourth inning was when it unraveled, as Cleveland loaded the bases on Tyler Freeman’s hit-by-pitch and plated five runs on three consecutive hits, with Brayan Rocchio delivering the knockout blow to Wood on a two-run double down the left-field line.
“Tough night for Woody,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He fell behind early, which when you have to come back in the zone with the fastball, it’s a little challenging. He handled the top of the lineup pretty well. … He’ll get back after it.”
