Bryan Woo suffers Groundhog Day in loss to the Yankees

City Connects can’t pull through this time as the Mariners get blown out at home

The thing about exciting young players is, as good as they can look, there will be times when they struggle: when the unstoppable force of their talent inevitably meets the immovable object of an older, wiser, stronger opponent. As Jake put it in the series preview, the Yankees lineup runs through the unstoppable force and immovable object known as Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Control them, and you control your fate. Tonight, Bryan Woo couldn’t control his fate, continually allowing them to come up with runners in scoring position, and knock in a combined six runs; more than enough to defeat the Mariners, who could only muster two measly solo homers on offense.

The trouble started right away for Woo, although through no fault of his own: Gleyber Torres got lucky with an infield base hit that rolled just fair, and then Juan Soto did what Juan Soto does and, in an 0-2 count, took a well-located changeup for a double. Aaron Judge then got a slider that caught too much plate for a two-run double of his own, putting the Yankees up 2-0 early.

The Yankees added on to their lead in the second, when Woo failed to take care of the bottom of the lineup, allowing a two-out single to nine-hole hitter and Rancid Vibes-haver Alex Verdugo. Torres then got lucky again with a parachute single, bringing up Juan Soto with runners on. Woo by all rights had Soto punched out but he was ruled by the third base umpire not to have swung, loading the bases for Judge. In a 1-2 count, Woo made a poor pitch to Judge he’s lucky didn’t result in a grand slam, leaving a fastball over the plate that Judge redirected into left field for a two-run single to make it 4-1 Yankees.

Unfortunately, Woo didn’t adjust from his mistake despite a clean third, and in the fourth once again got two quick outs before leaving a pitch dead-middle for Torres, who earned his first barrel of the day with a double. That brought up Soto again, and he pounced on the first pitch he saw from Woo, lasering a fastball into the bullpen for a nail-in-the-coffin two-run home run.

Manager Dan Wilson was encouraging about Woo, saying “I think the score was maybe not as indicative of how he threw” and noting that the two guys at the top of the lineup did the majority of the damage, which is kind of like saying the Spanish flu did the majority of the damage in 1918-20.

“These are the games that you do learn a lot,” said Wilson. “You learn a lot of times through games that don’t go so well. It’s tough when you’re up against a lineup like this, and if you make a mistake, you’re going to get hurt. And these are the kinds of games where those things show up.”

“Just learning moments,” said Woo, asked what he will take away from his outing. “But I have to be better at understanding situations. Knowing who’s up, who’s coming up, understanding what guys I want to face and which ones I don’t. It’s just kind of reading the game a little bit better.”

The Mariners had opportunities against Luis Gil, who is a strikeout machine but can also get quite wild. Victor Robles was back in the leadoff spot tonight, and because Victor Robles is functionally incapable of having a normal at-bat, he was immediately hit by Gil’s first pitch of the game:

After Robles was carried to first base on his golden litter borne aloft by four old-timey strongmen, Julio Rodríguez popped out in a full count, and Cal Raleigh then walked on five pitches, denying Victor Robles a steal of second base which he wanted to do so bad, you could tell. Randy Arozarena then walked on five pitches, stepping out on two of them, bringing up Luke Raley with the bases loaded, and an early test of how disciplined the free-swinging Raley could be. Raley fell behind 0-2, whiffing at the first pitch and taking a called strike on the second, and then fell right into Gil’s trap, getting jammed on an inside fastball for an easy popout and putting the onus on veteran Justin Turner to come through. Turner worked the count to 3-0 but Robles was punched out trying to steal home—a good thought given how rattled Gil was, but a bad thought given the fact that Turner was about to walk that run in anyway. Robles, who was DHing in the first place because he’s banged up, was replaced after the inning by Mitch Garver; the Mariners later announced he left with a hand contusion (x-rays were negative), and Dan Wilson said postgame the team is in the process of “assessing” the damage after Robles had trouble gripping a bat. Asked if it was frustrating to have Robles run them out of the inning, Wilson replied, “It was a frustrating night all around, on a lot of counts.”

“That was a very aggressive play, and one that you want to make sure you’re going to be in there, and he just wasn’t able to get in there.” - Dan Wilson on Robles’ attempted steal of home, and also narrating me attempting to parallel park directly outside the restaurant downtown where my friends are waiting.

The trouble worsened for the Mariners in the second. With two outs, Woo wasn’t able to put away Bad Vibes Alex Verdugo, who got ahead in the count 2-1 and was able to lace a single into left field. Gleyber Torres then got lucky for the second time already in this game, parachuting a little base hit (EV 69 mph, not nice), bringing up the unpleasant duo of Soto and Judge. Woo by all rights had Soto punched out but he was ruled by the third base umpire not to have swung, loading the bases for Judge. In a 1-2 count, Woo made a poor pitch to Judge he’s lucky didn’t result in a grand slam, leaving a fastball over the plate that Judge redirected into left field for a two-run single.

The Mariners got one back in the bottom of the second, when Gil left a meatball over the plate for Jorge Polanco, who decided he wanted to lose the “lowest OPS” crown to Anthony Volpe this series and blasted a solo homer:

After Woo’s first clean inning of the day, the Mariners hassled Gil again in the bottom of the third; Julio hit a one-out double and Raleigh worked his second walk of the day. Arozarena grounded into a fielder’s choice, giving Raley another chance with runners in scoring position after his three-pitch out in the first. Unfortunately, Raley went down chasing after Gil’s changeup, battling to push Gil to 66 pitches through three innings but not resulting in any more runs for the Mariners. The Mariners would wind up stranding 11 men on base while going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Encouragingly, they only struck out nine times (remember, we celebrate non-double-digits here), and three times of those were Mitch Garver, pressed into service for Robles. Unfortunately, that means Julio despite having four hits got not a single RBI since no one was ever on base in front of him. It’s cold comfort, but Julio continuing to hit well is one positive to take away from tonight.

Unfortunately, Woo couldn’t get through the fourth cleanly, allowing the death blow of a two-run home run to Juan Soto to put the Yankees up 6-1. Once again, Woo couldn’t get the crucial third out, leaving a fastball over the plate for Gleyber Torres in a 1-2 count, who doubled—maybe Luke Raley could have made a better play on the ball, but the primary sin was the pitch location. That brought up Soto with a runner on, ready to pounce on Woo’s first pitch fastball for his 200th career home run. That was also Soto’s first career homer at T-Mobile Park, checking it off his list as he’s now homered at every MLB park, a record that will stand until the A’s are playing at whatever abandoned roadhouse John Fisher finds in the Nevada desert.

Woo wasn’t done giving up runs, though: in the fifth he gave up a solo homer to Jasson Domínguez. Domínguez hasn’t kicked down the door in MLB as one might have expected a player nicknamed “The Martian” to do when he was touted as one of the best prospects in baseball as a young teenager, but he was able to pounce on a struggling Woo tonight.

That ended Woo’s night, bringing in Austin Voth. Voth also struggled with putting his hitters away, getting two outs but walking Soto to put two on for Aaron Judge, which is just not what you want. Voth walked Judge, causing Dan Wilson to summon lefty Jhonathan Díaz from the ‘pen to face Austin Wells, the lefty catcher. The Yankees have struggled against lefties this year, but Wells had no trouble sizing up Díaz for a bases-clearing double, putting the game at a truly out-of-reach 10-1. Per Alex Mayer, those 10 runs allowed snapped a 107-game streak of games at T-Mobile Park in which the Mariners did not allow 10+ runs in a game; that was not only a franchise record streak, but also the longest active home streak in MLB.

The Mariners got one run back in garbage time on a solo home run by Raley off Marcus Stroman. That helps the scalding streak Raley has been on but doesn’t help the Mariners much in this game, as it accounts for just the one (1) run.

However after that One Good Thing we were forced to endure some more bad things. With position player Leo Rivas on to pitch in the ninth, Julio cold dropped what should have been a flyout, allowing a double which would come around to score on an Oswaldo Cabrera single. It’s an fully inconsequential run but it just shows the utter lack of focus this team was playing with tonight in a truly ugly loss, as Arozarena didn’t even try to get the ball in to hold up the runner at third. I guess if it’s going to be gross, go all-out, but it’s a clunker of a way to start a series, and a bummer after how well the team played against Texas. It’s also a crushing loss as far as the Mariners’ dwindling playoff hopes go, as every team they needed to lose won tonight, indicating the end of the Mariners’ season will be much like Robles’s attempted steal of home: close, but ultimately just not able to get there.