Travis Wood pitches five solid innings, Chicago Cubs fall to Indians 3-2

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Travis Wood followed up a rocky performance in his last start with five solid innings, but the Cubs (8-10) came up just short, losing 3-2 to the Indians (13-3) at Cubs Park Sunday.

Wood (0-2, 5.91 ERA) struggled in the first, allowing two runs on a Jeff Francoeur double. But after that he was lights out, striking out eight in his five innings.

A home run off the bat of Carlos Santana in the top of the sixth proved to be the game-winner for Cleveland, which continues to impress thus far in Spring Training.

After having the rocky start to the ballgame, Wood, who is slated as the Cubs’ #2 starter heading into the regular season, retired 13 of the final 14 Indians’ hitters he faced.

The Cubs were held scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Junior Lake beat the throw home on Luis Valbuena‘s second double of the game. Four of the Cubs’ six hits were doubles, but they were unable to string much together on offense, evidenced by the fact that Valbuena was the only Cubs player to record multiple hits.

Chicago threatened in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with nobody out. Brett Jackson grounded into a double play, allowing a run to score. Albert Almora then popped out to end the game.

The Cubs will have another pair of split-squad games tomorrow as they take on the Angels at Cubs Park and the Oakland A’s at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.