Dodgers’ Alex Wood keeps finding Braves bats or missing strike zone in 8-1 homecoming loss at Atlanta

Five innings remained in the game when he left the mound, so Dodgers starter Alex Wood had time to watch his outing “from start to finish,” he said. Inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Turner Field, he parked himself in front of a screen and relived the bitter homecoming of an 8-1 defeat to the Braves.

The video review only reinforced the misfortune he experienced on the mound. He operated with unreliable fastball command and sporadic control of his other pitches. The Atlanta hitters hounded him from the first at-bat of the game until his last, peppering him for six runs and seven hits and chasing him after only four innings.

“Not really the way I pictured coming back here for the first time,” Wood said after his first outing here since the Dodgers traded for him last July.

With Wood living a nightmare, the Dodgers (8-6) started this six-game trip on a sour note. The team ended the weekend in good spirits, alone at the top of the National League West after taking home series from the Diamondbacks and the Giants. Then the group traveled east and face-planted.

The players looked leaden and laggard after a cross-country flight Monday. The offense did not record a hit against Williams Perez, rushed into duty due to the illness of scheduled starter Julio Teheran, until the fourth inning. The defense committed errors that led to runs in the third and the fourth. A passed ball opened the door for another run in the fourth. Louis Coleman and J.P. Howell teamed to allow two more runs in the seventh.

“Nights like this,” Manager Dave Roberts said with a shrug, “they’re going to happen.”

Wood, a 25-year-old left-hander, had circled this series on his calendar earlier in the season. He grew up in Charlotte, N.C. The Braves drafted him out of the University of Georgia in 2012. He debuted in the majors a year later.

Even after the trade, Wood still trained this winter at nearby Georgia Tech. On the flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta, he revealed his excitement to Roberts. The chance to pitch against his old team, in front of his family and friends, thrilled him. Wood left more than a dozen tickets at will call, a decision he regretted.

“I wish it was not very many,” he said after the game.

At the start of Wood’s career in Atlanta, the Braves still contended for playoff spots. Now the organization is in the midst of a tear-down, the roster filled with veteran castoffs, a few promising prospects and relatively anonymous journeymen.

One of the unknowns, 31-year-old third baseman Adonis Garcia, loaded the bases by coaxing a walk out of Wood in the first. By then, Wood was wobbling due to his command and a strategic surprise from the Braves. Both outfielder Nick Markakis and first baseman Freddie Freeman had already pounced on first-pitch fastballs for singles.

After a sacrifice fly by outfielder Jeff Francoeur, catcher Tyler Flowers threaded a two-out single through the right side of the infield.

“A lot of them came out swinging early, especially in the first inning,” said Wood, who walked three and struck out one. “It surprised me a little bit.”

His fastball refused to travel where Wood intended. He drilled Garcia with a one on the leg in the third inning, the second Brave he hit in the game. The Braves executed a hit-and-run play, with Garcia dashing to third on Francoeur’s single. Flowers followed with another run-scoring single through a vacated space near second base.

With Wood teetering, his defense did him few favors. Justin Turner bungled a grounder that might have resulted in a double play. Instead, the bases were loaded when Wood walked outfielder Mallex Smith to force in another run.

An inning later, a pair of defensive gaffes cost the Dodgers. With a runner at first, Corey Seager fumbled a ground ball.

“That extends innings, that gets guys up to the plate,” Seager said. “It gets them rolling a little bit.”

Francouer drove a hanging curveball up the middle for an RBI single. When catcher Yasmani Grandal failed to catch a 1-1 curve, a runner moved to third base. Flowers followed with an RBI infield single for Atlanta’s sixth run.

Wood exited after the fourth, with the outcome essentially beyond doubt. Three of the six runs charged to him were unearned.

In the aftermath, Roberts rued the slew of well-placed singles from the Braves.

“Woody didn’t throw his best, didn’t have his best stuff,” Roberts said. “But if we make a couple plays for him, it’s a different ball game.”

Wood refused to take solace in the lament of bad luck. He felt the weight of his struggle on the mound. Watching the outing again only reinforced the disappointment.

“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Wood said. “But I’ve got another one in five days.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes