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.
Woo, who’d only once in his career 96 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, bringing the potential tying run to the plate with one out.
With Carlos Vargas warming, and the Mariners facing the possibility of one swing spinning the sourest of finishes to Woo’s day, Wilson opted to stick with the 2025 All-Star -- and it paid off in a big way.
Woo struck out No. 8 hitter Alika Williams, then generated a flyout against Brian Serven, putting the finishing touches on the best start of the Mariners’ entire season and of Woo’s young career.
With the support of two runs via five straight singles to lead off the fourth inning, Seattle held on to a 2-0 win that avoided what would’ve been a four-game sweep.
Woo allowed just one hit and a pair of walks in his career-high eight innings, and matched his season high with nine strikeouts. He became the first Mariner to allow no runs and one hit in eight frames or more since Mike Leake did so vs. the Angels on July 19, 2019.