Dodgers' Alex Wood named NL Player of the Week

For the second week in a row a Los Angeles Dodger has been honored by Major League Baseball, as starting pitcher Alex Wood has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending May 15.  Cody Bellinger won the same award last week.

Wood compiled a 2-0 record without allowing a run over 11.0 innings pitched to claim his first career Player of the Week Award. Wood struck out 21 batters and issued just two free passes along with seven hits in two dominant starts last week.  Wood is the first Dodgers hurler to take home weekly honors since teammate Clayton Kershaw and then-Dodger Zack Greinke were named Co-Players of the Week for the week ending July 19, 2015.

In Wood’s first start of the week last Monday, the left-hander tossed 5.0 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits. The Dodgers pitching staff recorded a season-high 17 strikeouts in LA’s 12-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, the most strikeouts for the club in a nine-inning game since May 15, 2015 against the Colorado Rockies (18 SO). Wood, a second round selection by the Atlanta Braves in the 2012 MLB Draft, led the way for LA with a season-high 11 strikeouts, while issuing just one walk.

On Saturday against the Rockies at Coors Field, the University of Georgia product logged his second consecutive scoreless outing en route to his fourth win of the season. Wood struck out 10 batters over 6.0 innings, while permitting just one free pass. It was his second consecutive game with more than 10 strikeouts, accomplishing the feat for the first time in his five-year Major League career.

Entering play today, the Dodgers pitching staff paces the Majors in ERA (3.30) and WHIP (1.19), and ranks second in strikeouts (367) behind the Houston Astros. The Dodgers currently sport a 22-16 (.579) record and sit 1.5 games behind the Rockies for first place in the NL West.

Wood’s batterymate Yasmani Grandal (.591, 13 H, 4 2B, 8 RBI) posted an excellent week at the plate for the Dodgers. The 2015 NL All-Star recorded a trio of three-hit games and paced his NL peers in hits for the period. Grandal enters play today in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak, dating back to May 3.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services