Wood delivers finale win against Rockies

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants don’t take many losses these days, but whenever they do, they can usually count on left-hander Alex Wood to put them back in the win column.

Embracing his familiar stopper role, Wood gave up two runs over 6 2/3 innings to help the Giants take three of four games from the Rockies with a 5-2 win in Sunday afternoon’s series finale at Oracle Park.

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Wood entered Sunday with a 7.80 ERA over his last three outings, but he got back on track by limiting the Rockies to six hits while walking one and striking out six in his first quality start since July 7.

“I needed a good one today. I’ve had a couple of weird ones these last two or three," Wood said. "But I felt good. We made a nice little adjustment in between my last one and today. My changeup was really consistent throughout the day. I thought my stuff and command, overall, was pretty good. It’s always nice to go deep in a game, to get a stop after a loss and get a series win.”

Wood carried a shutout bid into the seventh inning, but he teetered toward the end of his outing, giving up back-to-back RBI singles to pinch-hitters Elias Díaz and Charlie Blackmon that cut the Giants’ lead to 3-2.

Dominic Leone subsequently relieved Wood and gave up another two-out single to Connor Joe, but right fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. made a spectacular throw to nail Díaz at the plate to end the inning, keeping San Francisco’s one-run lead intact.

“I was pretty jacked up,” Wood said. “That was a huge play in the game. LaMonte came up and made a play, like he’s done all year. This time, he just happened to do it with his glove.”

The Giants added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh with the help of an error from Joe, who dropped Kris Bryant’s routine fly ball to left-center field following a near-collision with Garrett Hampson.

The Giants are now 11-0 when Wood has taken the mound following a loss this season, with the 30-year-old veteran earning the win in nine of those 11 games.

“I think he definitely likes the ball in his hand in a big moment,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “I think he likes the role of taking care of our team. I think he likes the role of taking care of our bullpen. I think it’s kind of cool that that’s lining up and syncing up with days after we don’t play our [best] baseball. He comes back the next day and performs well.”

Wood looked completely in sync with backup catcher Curt Casali, who also extended his track record of success behind the plate this season. San Francisco has won 33 of the 41 games Casali has started this season, as he entered Sunday with a 2.71 catcher ERA, the best figure in the Majors among backstops who have started at least 40 games this year.

Casali also came through with his bat on Sunday, kicking off the Giants’ three-run fifth inning against Rockies right-hander Jon Gray. After Mike Yastrzemski reached on a leadoff single and stole second, Casali blooped a single to center field to drive in his fellow Vanderbilt alum and give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

San Francisco went on to load the bases with one out for Tommy La Stella, who narrowly missed a grand slam, settling for a two-run double that hit off the top of the right-field wall. La Stella finished with three hits, boosting his batting average to .255 on the season.

The Giants have taken care of business so far this homestand, taking five of six games from the lowly D-backs and the Rockies, but they’ll enter a tougher portion of their schedule Monday, when they open a three-game series against the Mets, who are jockeying with the Braves and Phillies for first place in the tightly contested National League East.

Due to a schedule change, the Mets will be forced to make the cross-country trip after facing the Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball, drawing the ire of Noah Syndergaard, who is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. The Giants won’t see Syndergaard or two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, who is out with right elbow inflammation, but Kapler said he still expects the matchup to be a big test for his club.

“I know they’re not quite at full strength, and I think every team around baseball can say that from time to time,” Kapler said. “We basically said it all year. But I think that’s probably true for the Mets. I know they’ve had stretches of success. It’s a very, very talented team that I’m quite familiar with from my time with the Phillies, with some dangerous left-handed bats in the middle of their lineup and some righties that can do some damage as well. It’s a talented and dangerous club.”

Monday’s series opener will be the first of 19 consecutive games the Giants will play against contending teams, as they’re due to face the Mets, A’s, Braves, Brewers and Dodgers in one of their most challenging stretches of the season. Still, the Giants have passed every test they’ve faced with aplomb thus far, as evidenced by their Major League-best 76-42 record.

“We have a special group,” Wood said. “There’s no other way to put it.”