Veteran Wood experiences Cactus League oddity 

MESA, Ariz. -- As an 11-year Major League veteran, Alex Wood thought he had seen it all when it came to Spring Training. But Thursday brought something he never thought was possible.

On what was a rare gloomy day in Arizona, Wood took the mound for the A’s at Hohokam Stadium accompanied by drizzling rain for what was his second Cactus League outing. By the third inning, Wood’s kelly green ‘Oakland’ Spring Training jersey was soaked, and he walked off the field as the umpires called the game with the drizzle turning into a full-on downpour.

“I’ve never had a rainout in Arizona,” Wood said. “You don’t get many days like this here. I guess I’ve seen rain a couple of times in spring, but I feel like it’s always gone by the time we get out here. Weird day, for sure.”

Though the climate was not ideal, the 33-year-old left-hander battled the elements as best as he could against the Guardians, allowing two runs on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. The game was called with one out in the top of the third, with Oakland trailing, 2-1, at the time of the stoppage.

Focused less on results and more on the ramp-up process, Wood was pleased with his performance. For one, his command felt a lot better than it did in his spring debut against the Royals last week, when he gave up a pair of homers and had to exit in the middle of the first inning due to a high pitch count before coming back out for the second. This time, Wood got through his first two innings scoreless on just 23 pitches.

“I was just trying to pump the zone,” Wood said. “I’ve been working on a few things I’ve been trying to get reps with. I felt good. I felt like I commanded it pretty solidly today. I’m just going to keep building up and getting ready to go.”

A main focus for Wood this spring has been figuring out how to improve the shape of his slider, which opposing batters hit .288 against last season. He landed several sliders for strikes on Thursday, including two utilized as the putaway pitch on his strikeouts of Jhonkensy Noel swinging in the first and Gabriel Arias looking in the second.

“I thought I threw some good [sliders] today,” Wood said. “I won’t know what it looks like until I get the numbers back to see if it’s trending towards the shape I want, but I got a few swings-and-misses on it. I felt it was solid overall.”

There was some pause about Wood pitching at all on Thursday considering that the A’s will open up the regular season at home against the Guardians, and he is likely to pitch in that four-game series. There was an option to prevent Cleveland from getting an early look at Wood by having him pitch in a sim game, but he preferred to get a feel for more of a real game setting.

“We play Cleveland to start the year, so it’s like, ‘Do we want to throw against Cleveland today knowing we play them so early in the season?’” Wood said. “But I’m just trying to get as many in-game reps as I can, because you just can’t replicate it. It was good to get out there and get three ups.”

Vegas series

Some of the A’s will take a brief respite from the Arizona desert by heading to Nevada for a two-game series against the Brewers at Las Vegas Ballpark that begins on Friday. Mitch Spence, a Rule 5 Draft pick by the A’s this winter who is looking to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster, will take the mound on Friday at 6:05 p.m. PT. Left-hander JP Sears will start Saturday’s contest in Las Vegas (1:05).

Zack Gelof, Lawrence Butler, Tyler Soderstrom, Darell Hernaiz, Miguel Andujar, Mason Miller and Lucas Erceg are among the A’s players on the travel roster for the two games in Las Vegas. Those not on the trip will remain in Arizona for split-squad games on those two days against the Brewers on Friday and Giants on Saturday.