GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The battle for the fifth spot in the Royals' rotation marched on again on Tuesday as left-hander Travis Wood and right-hander Christopher Young wobbled a bit, but both had impressive moments as well in the Royals' 7-3 loss to the Reds.
Wood gave up four hits and two runs over 2 2/3 innings. He threw 49 pitches, 34 for strikes.
"It felt good," Wood said. "Pitches were doing pretty much what I wanted to. Left a couple pitches up.
"But getting the arm strength up is big. That's what you're trying to do. Obviously, I wouldn't like to give up any runs. Fastball command was a little off. But overall, I'll take it."
Young went three innings and gave up three runs, including a solo homer and a two-run blast.
But Young struck out five as his slider at times overmatched the Reds.
"It was pretty good, had good depth," Young said. "It's kind of hard to tell down here with your pitches because of the dry air, but I thought it was pretty good. Fastball command could have been a little better."
Royals manager Ned Yost liked what he saw from Wood and Young.
"Woody threw pretty good," Yost said. "And Chris' slider was fantastic. Left a couple of fastballs up that they took advantage of, but his slider was really good."