Travis Wood pitched three-hit ball into the eighth inning and Anthony Rizzo hit his first home run of the season, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 5-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.
The Cubs (5-3) won two of three games in the series and moved back into first place in the National League Central.
Wood (1-1) walked two and struck out seven. It was a nice bounce-back from his first start of the season in Colorado where he yielded three runs on seven hits in 4 innings.
Cincinnati starter Jason Marquis (0-1) was in trouble from the outset, allowing five runs — four earned — on seven hits in four innings.
The Cubs have had a knack for scoring late so far this season, but wasted no time jumping on top in this one. Leadoff hitter Dexter Flower began the bottom of the first with a double and trotted home as the next batter, Rizzo, homered into the right-field bleachers that are still under construction for a 2-0 lead.
The Cubs added two more in the second. Jonathan Herrera singled in a run and the other run scored when Jorge Soler — after Rizzo was intentionally walked — was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The Cubs stretched the lead to 5-0 in the fourth on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Miguel Montero.
Chicago Baseball
That support was plenty for Wood, who retired the first 10 batters and allowed only one runner to reach second base in the first seven innings.
Wood was pulled after allowing a single and a walk to the first two batters of the eighth. Phil Coke came on and stranded both runners to preserve the shutout.
Neil Ramirez — who left after just three pitches with an injury and Brian Schlitter pitched the ninth.
