Woo rewards Wilson's trust with 8-inning, skid-snapping gem

SEATTLE -- As Bryan Woo navigated his only true jam on Sunday afternoon, Dan Wilson shifted back and forth on the home dugout’s top step.

The Mariners’ manager stared out to the sun-soaked playing surface at T-Mobile Park, weighing a decision on whether to let the electric right-hander finish out the eighth inning.

And it was one that would ultimately pay off in a 2-0 win.

Woo, who’d only once in his 96 career starts pitched this deep into a game -- last July at Yankee Stadium, when he took a no-hitter into the eighth but didn't make it out of the frame -- had just walked Donovan Walton with his 94th pitch.

That brought the potential tying run to the plate with one out, and the possibility of one swing spinning the sourest of finishes to Woo’s day. Yet, even with Carlos Vargas and Andrés Muñoz warming, Wilson opted to stick with the 2025 All-Star -- and it paid off in a big way.

“I really appreciated it,” Woo said. “I've had opportunities in the past of being able to go deeper into games and just haven't gotten the job done.”

Woo struck out No. 8 hitter Alika Williams, then generated a flyout to Brian Serven, putting the finishing touches on the best start of the Mariners’ entire season and of Woo’s young career. And he rode two runs of support via five straight singles from Seattle’s bats to lead off the fourth inning.

Woo surrendered just one hit -- a single to leadoff man Henry Bolte in the fourth -- and a pair of walks to Walton over a career-high eight innings. He also matched his season high with nine strikeouts.

Then, Muñoz locked down his 25th save -- again with increased velocity (he topped out at 101.9 mph) and the gnarly changeup that’s become such a weapon (which he used for a K to Jeff McNeil).

“It's been really good, especially since I started just throwing it like the fastball,” Muñoz said of the offspeed offering. “And with time, I've been getting better and getting confidence with that pitch, and it's been getting good response. So we're going to continue using it.”

Woo also became Seattle’s first pitcher to allow no runs and one hit in eight frames or more since Mike Leake did so vs. the Angels on July 19, 2019, when he flirted with a perfect game.

“When he's rolling like that, he's tough to be denied,” Wilson said of Woo. “And I think we all felt pretty secure with where he was, where we were in the lineup, that he could go right after it.”

As he walked off the mound, Woo did so to a standing ovation -- from a crowd that, less than 24 hours prior, had made its frustration heard.

“It means a lot,” Woo said. “All the frustration and stuff that fans feel, like, we feel it tenfold. Good games, bad games, whatever -- we sit with it just as much. So it means a lot for them to stick with us, and we can’t do what we want to do without them.”

Speaking of Saturday’s frustration, a team meeting was called immediately after the final out that delayed media availability. Cal Raleigh, who ripped an RBI single in the decisive fourth inning Sunday -- and nearly crushed his 22nd homer that instead hooked foul -- addressed it a day later. ​

“There’s not really much to say,” Raleigh said. “It’s, ‘Put your best foot forward, play as hard as you can, try to win as many games you can for the rest of the season and whatever happens, happens.’ We’re kind at that point and have put ourselves in a bad position.

“At this point, you've just got to forget about it. We've got to find a way to move on, and we've just got to find a way to win. It's plain and simple. I don't really have an answer besides that. It's just, go out there and find a way to get it done, by any means necessary. So there's not really much else to say. What's understood doesn't really need to be said all the time.”