Frustrating season for Wood ends with another loss

While Adam Wainwright was becoming the second visiting pitcher at Wrigley Field in four days to win his 20th game, Travis Wood was turning in a disappointing finish to a disappointing season.

Wainwright stymied the Cubs while Wood was rocked around by St. Louis batters as the Cardinals cruised to a 8-0 victory Monday night.

Last Friday, the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw improved to 20-3 by beating the Cubs 14-5. Wainwright upped his mark to 20-9.

For Wood, it has been a season to forget, coming one year after he made the all-star team and pitched 200 innings. He lasted 5 innings against the Cardinals, giving up 8 hits and 7 runs, 6 earned. His record fell to 8-13 and his ERA from 4.86 to 5.03 in his final start of 2014.

Last season Wood pitched 200 innings and had a tidy WHIP of 1.15. This year he worked 173⅔ innings, and his WHIP ballooned to 1.53.

"It wasn't a good year for me, overall," Wood admitted. "With that being said, it showed me a lot of the stuff that I need to take into the off-season and work on because you learn a lot more about yourself as a pitcher when things aren't going good as opposed to when things are."

Manager Rick Renteria said it's all about fastball command for Wood.

"I know he has the same victories that he had last year, but it probably hasn't looked the same in terms of his outings," Renteria said. "I think he's trying to command his fastball again. He wants to be able to do that. From what I gather in our conversations, he was commanding his fastball a lot better last year.

"His ability to do that opened up his cutter a little bit more. He was trying to use his other secondary pitches a little bit more effectively. I just want him to go out there and know that he's still capable of giving us a well-rounded ballgame and giving us a chance to win ballgames."

The Cardinals scored 4 runs in the fourth and 3 in the fifth against Wood.

Prospect visits Wrigley:

Shortstop prospect Addison Russell was a pregame visitor to the field during batting practice. The Cubs obtained Russell from the Oakland organization in the July 4 trade that sent pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Athletics.

With three minor-league teams this year, including the Cubs' Class AA Tennessee affiliate, Russell had a line of .295/.350/.508 with 13 homers and 45 RBI.

"Everything's good," he said. "There was a little hamstring (injury) that put me back a little bit. I finished out the rest of the season, and I think I finished strong. Everything's going good right now."