video thumbnail

NYM@CHC: Wood fans six over seven scoreless innings

Cubs starter Travis Wood probably wouldn't mind just not flipping the calendar to July on Sunday. After all, Wood is coming off the best month of his career, anchoring himself into the Cubs' starting rotation along the way.

Now, the 25-year-old lefty will look to continue his dominant pitching of late on Sunday as he leads the Cubs into July when they look to complete a three-game sweep of the Astros at Wrigley Field.

Wood is coming off back-to-back wins in which he allowed just one run over 13 innings of work. The southpaw went 2-2 with a 2.27 ERA in his five starts last month and has allowed more than three earned runs just once in his eight starts since entering the Cubs' rotation on May 6.

So after a rocky Spring Training left Wood on the outside looking in, where is the lefty's confidence level three months later?

"Good right now -- absolutely high right now," a smiling Wood said after tossing seven scoreless innings last Monday.

As for the Astros, their starting rotation, as a whole, closed out the month of June on a bit of a tear of its own. On Sunday, left-hander Wandy Rodriguez will look to build on a stretch in which Houston starters have posted a collective 2.45 ERA over the club's last 13 games.

During that stretch, manager Brad Mills has gotten at least six innings from his starter in all but one game. Saturday also marked just the third time in that span that the opposition put up more than two runs against an Astros starter.

Unfortunately for Rodriguez, one of those other two occurrences came in his last outing when he conceded five runs over 6 2/3 innings against the Padres last Monday -- but it wasn't all bad for the southpaw. Rodriguez was tagged for all five of those runs in his first 2 2/3 innings and then allowed only one hit -- an infield single -- over his final four frames while retiring each of the last 10 batters he faced.

"It took him a while to settle down, and once he got settled down, he was pretty good," Mills said. "Getting to that point, it was too bad it just took him so long."

Astros: Lee mulling trade to Dodgers
Veteran first baseman Carlos Lee confirmed prior to Saturday's victory that he was considering whether or not he wants to accept a trade that would send him to the Dodgers.

Lee, 36, said he hadn't been given a timetable for when he needs to make a decision, though he plans on making his final decision on Sunday. With his limited no-trade clause, Lee would have to approve any potential trade to the Dodgers.

"L.A. has made an offer," Lee said. "I just told [general manager] Jeff [Luhnow] I want to see my options. I just want to wait and see what my options are."

Lee went 0-for-4 on Saturday and is now hitting .285 with five home runs and 29 RBIs this season.

Cubs: Deal finalized with Soler
The Cubs officially completed their deal with Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler late Friday, agreeing to a nine-year, $30 million contract.

Soler, 20, will report to the Cubs' facility in Mesa, Ariz. to start his Spring Training, according to general manager Jed Hoyer. Hoyer didn't provide a specific timetable for when Soler might reach the big leagues, but that didn't stop him from gushing about his newly signed slugger.

"He has a ton of power potential for us," Hoyer said. "We scouted him heavily. Obviously, it's a significant commitment for us, but we feel he fits very well into what we want to do -- he's the right age, right talent. We're excited to finally get him started."

Worth noting
• Alfonso Soriano is just 4-for-38 [.105] with 12 strikeouts in his career against Rodriguez.

• Lee and Chris Johnson are each 2-for-12 in their careers against Wood with six combined strikeouts.

• Astros second baseman Jose Altuve will return to the lineup on Sunday after leaving last Sunday's game with a strained right hamstring.

MLB.com Comments