Kerry Wood had gone 154 starts with at least one strikeout before Sunday. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO -- Kid K didn't get a single K on Sunday.
For the first time in his career, Chicago pitcher Kerry Wood did not strike out a batter as the San Francisco Giants edged the Cubs, 6-3, Sunday night.
It's the first time in 155 career starts that Wood (6-5) had gone "K-less." The right-hander, who has 40 career double-digit strikeout games, gave up four runs on nine hits and three walks over six-plus innings.
"That's an indication he didn't have real good stuff," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "I guess that does make it a strange game."
Wood's previous low-strikeout game was one, which he had done twice, both times against St. Louis. On Sept. 22, 2000, he fanned one in 1 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on one hit. On July 4, 2003, he struck out one in three innings, also walking six and serving up six hits and seven earned runs.
Kerry Wood / P
Born: 06/16/77
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 225 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R
Wood didn't sense anything different in his approach.
"I thought I had pretty good velocity on my fastball," he said. "I didn't locate like I wish I would have. Overall, I thought I threw all right."
"They came out swinging," Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said, "and looked like they were sitting on the slider early in the game. Plus, the last game in Colorado we didn't throw as many breaking balls as we would've liked to because of the altitude. Today we were trying to get a feel back for that slider and they seemed to be all over it early. We even tried the curveball, but they semed to be looking for the breaking balls today."
Despite the loss, the Cubs maintained a two-game lead in the National League Wild Card standings over the Giants and San Diego Padres. Chicago now heads home for a six-game series against the Padres and NL West leader Los Angeles, and an opportunity to pad its lead. The Cubs have an off-day Monday to gear up for the final eight weeks of the season.
"Everybody we're playing has a chance. It's a big week," Baker said.
"It was a good trip," Cubs pitcher Kent Mercker said of the 4-2 junket to Colorado and San Francisco. "Obviously you want to win them all, but 4-2 is a good trip. To go 5-1 would've been awesome."
The Cubs need to avoid some of the mental mistakes made Sunday and could use a little offensive help. Sammy Sosa, for example, is 2-for-24 over his last six games.
"It was a good trip. Obviously you want to win them all, but 4-2 is a good trip. To go 5-1 would've been awesome."
-- Kent Mercker
"We made a lot of mistakes," Baker said. "It's hard to win when you make mistakes like that. We just made a lot of mistakes on the bases, defensively, a lot of ways. We just made too many mistakes."
A.J. Pierzynski drove in two runs to back Noah Lowry (2-0), who gave up three runs -- two earned -- on eight hits over 7 1/3 innings.
With two out in the Giants first, Pedro Feliz singled and advanced on a wild pitch. Wood then walked Barry Bonds, and Pierzynski singled to right to score Feliz. Edgardo Alfonzo popped up toward third and both Aramis Ramirez and Ramon Martinez lost track of the ball, allowing it to drop for a hit. Bonds scored on the play to make it 2-0.
Derrek Lee singled with two out in the Chicago second and scored on Barrett's double. Barrett then tallied on Martinez's single to tie the game.
The Giants loaded the bases with one out in the third and took a 3-2 lead on Dustan Mohr's sacrifice fly.
In the San Francisco seventh, Feliz singled to lead off and chase Wood. Mercker got Bonds to ground out, but Feliz reached third on the play. No one was covering third base becaue of the defensive shift during Bonds' at-bat. Pierzynski then grounded out, allowing Feliz to score.
"I should've gone over. I know the shift is on," Mercker said. "Someone should've gone over. I blame myself."
"A ball gets lost in the sun and on the shift, we don't cover on a shift and then there's a chopper off the plate that scores a run so it was just a weird day," Wood said.
Martinez tripled to lead off the Cubs eighth and scored on an throwing error by third baseman Alfonzo. Pinch-hitter Nomar Garciaparra, who did not start to rest his Achilles, hit the grounder to Alfonzo. Giants center fielder Mohr ended the inning with a diving catch on the warning track of Alou's fly ball in the gap in left-center.
Deivi Cruz added an RBI single and Feliz hit a sacrifice fly in the Giants eighth.
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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