Young, Wood solid in spring work vs. Rockies

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The battle for the Royals' No. 5 spot in the rotation remains a dead heat after the first week of Spring Training.
Nate Karns, Chris Young and Travis Wood all survived their first two innings of work without allowing an earned run.
Young and Wood each pitched two innings in the Royals' 3-1 win over the Rockies on Thursday at Surprise Stadium.
Young gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two. His slider demonstrated some hard bite down in the zone. And he elevated his fastball to the spots he wanted.
"I just tried to establish my fastball command," Young said. "Just compete. That's it.
"Slider was good. Fastball command was pretty good. Good day to get my feet wet. Everybody seemed to pitch well today."
And included Wood, who had a 1-2-3 inning before giving up an infield hit and an unearned run in his second inning of work.
"Just trying to get that first one out of the way," Wood said. "It worked out well today.
"First outing, I'm taking it nice and easy, mechanics-wise, and everything felt good. We're all just feeling our pitches right now. You just want to make sure the pitches feel good and come out good. That's it."