Weekend BP: Alex Wood to start on Monday

Happy weekend, San Francisco Giants fans.

On Friday, prior to the Giants loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team reinstated left-handed pitcher Alex Wood from the Injured List. To make room for Wood, right-handed reliever Cole Waites was optioned to AAA Sacramento.

With John Brebbia acting as an opener for the game, my assumption was that Wood would enter in the second inning and pitch a large chunk of minutes. Instead, we got something I didn’t really see coming: Wood came in for the seventh inning, and pitched just one inning. It didn’t go particularly well, as he allowed three hits, a walk, and a run, but that’s beside the point. I was expecting Wood to be the post-opener “starter,” but instead Ross Stripling and Jakob Junis got a large chunk of innings.

And now we know why: the Giants were treating Friday as Wood’s throwing day, and he’ll actually be starting three days later, for Monday’s series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Giants do this, and it’s a cool approach. If a pitcher has to throw a little bit between starts, why not take advantage of that?

And so Wood will make his fourth start of the year on Monday, and we now don’t have to be as confused as to the pitcher usage that took place on Friday.

What time do the Giants play this weekend?

The Giants round up their four-game series against the D-Backs this weekend with a 5:10 p.m. PT game on Saturday and a 1:10 p.m. PT game on Sunday.