It’s a young man’s world, and on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, 20-year-old Kerry Wood was living the good life.
The Cubs’ rookie phenom threw five shutout innings to earn his first major-league victory as the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-1. He struck out seven, allowed four hits and even singled in a run before 34,652 in his Wrigley debut.
Wood ignored the hype that accompanied his first Chicago outing, though eight Cubs runs off Hideo Nomo in the first inning didn’t hurt.
“I was like a little kid out there today,” Wood said. “I was nervous. I forgot about everything that’s been going on, or has gone on in the past. I was nervous for the first four innings. I didn’t loosen up until the last inning.”
Wood’s adventurous day began when he fouled off a ball in batting practice that wound up hitting him in the nose, leaving a red mark. He earned his first standing ovation after striking out Mike Piazza to end the first inning. He knocked out his first hit and RBI with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, nearly got into a scuffle with the Dodgers’ Eric Young after throwing a fastball over Young’s head in the third and left after throwing 102 pitches.
When he spotted his father being interviewed in the postgame clubhouse, Wood jokingly told his dad not to “say anything stupid.” The proud pop simply beamed.
“It’s like hitting the lottery,” Garry Wood said of his son’s quick rise to the majors.
The Cubs staked Wood to an 8-0 lead without doing any heavy lifting. Nomo walked five of the first six batters he faced, including three straight with the bases loaded. Dodgers manager Bill Russell never budged.
Wood then tomahawked a Nomo forkball into right-center with the bases loaded, making it 4-0 and earning his second standing ovation. “Took one off the nose in BP,” Wood said, “so I was just trying not to get hurt.”
By the time the carnage ended, Mickey Morandini had two hits in the inning, Nomo had the shortest outing of his career and Wood had the luxury of using all his pitches the rest of the way. Still, manager Jim Riggleman removed him after five.
“He didn’t want to come out, and I’m sure Rigs didn’t want to take him out,” Mark Grace said. “One thing that you definitely don’t want is to get him in the frame of mind that he’s only going to go five.”
The combination of Wood and a nice day brought a walkup crowd of 7,278, swelling attendance and suggesting the Cubs may have a real drawing card in “the Kid.” While his son did postgame interviews, Garry Wood recalled the day Kerry “dragged” him to see Nolan Ryan pitch for the Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Ryan wound up pitching his seventh no-hitter.
“I thought Nolan Ryan was the best pitcher I’d ever seen,” Garry Wood said. “So we tried to emulate him.”
Nice job.
