Bryan Woo sharp in third MLB start, and Mariners give him just enough offense
SEATTLE – As the ball kept carrying over the wall in right-center, much to his disbelief and discontent, Bryan Woo screamed into his glove in frustration.
He knew his outing was over and he’d exit his best-pitched game of his young career with his team trailing following Andrew Benintendi’s sixth-inning solo blast – his first homer of the season.
Even the lengthy conversation with Mariners manager Scott Servais on the mound as he was being removed the game seemed to offer little consolation.
It seemed like another loss for Woo and the Mariners loomed.
Up to that point, his teammates had done little in the way of offering up run support or inspiring confidence that runs would eventually come, having stranded 10 base runners over the first five innings.
But the Mariners found just enough offense with Ty France tying the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth and Teoscar Hernandez putting them ahead for good with a solo homer – a blast to center – for a 3-2 come-from-behind win.
Woo didn’t get credited with the win, but he was absolutely vital for the Mariners to prevail.
Making his third big league start, the young right-hander pitched 5⅔ innings, allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
It was the first time he pitched into the sixth inning since his MLB debut and the nine strikeouts were a career high.
Of his 91 pitches, Woo generated 18 swings and misses – seven on his four-seam fastball, which is expected, but also seven on his slider, which is an improving pitch, and four on his two-seam sinker.
Woo cruised through the first three innings, retiring all nine hitters .
Tim Anderson led off the fourth with a single, but Woo came back to retire the next three hitters, including strikeouts of Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jimenez.
His next two hits allowed would be solo homers. Gavin Sheets blasted a solo homer to deep right with one out in the fifth .
The Mariners answered in the bottom of the inning as Julio Rodriguez led off with a double and scored on Hernandez’s double to left.
After Benintendi’s homer off Woo, Matt Brash entered the game and struck out Robert to end the inning.
The Mariners got the run back in the bottom of the inning. J.P. Crawford doubled with one out, and France punched a two-out single through the left side to score him.
Woo has 20 strikeouts in his first three career starts for the Mariners, one behind Felix Hernandez’s club record. Bryce Miller and Erik Hanson are tied for third with 18, one more than Freddy Garcia.