BALTIMORE -- Bryan Woo sat all alone along the top bench of the visitor's dugout late Thursday night, quite literally soaking in what had just unfolded in front of him.
Rain began misting shortly after he departed from a start unlike any other, ambushed for six runs in the third inning alone and a career-high-tying seven overall. That onslaught sunk Seattle toward a 7-5 loss to the Orioles, and split this four-game series after winning the first two.
And it was a continuation of a borderline boom-or-bust season that Woo finds himself in, with nearly all of the damage against him coming on the road.
"I'm getting pretty tired of trying to come up with reasons or excuses or superlatives,” Woo said. “I'm just tired of sucking. It is what it is. I don't know. Like I said, I don't have the answers. I'm looking for them."
Woo home/road splits, 2026
ERA: 2.37 | 5.93
WHIP: 0.71 | 1.32
OPS against: .442 | .755
Hard-hit rate: 41.1% | 46.5%
Quality starts: 5 | 3
No one has been more self-critical on the Mariners’ roster than their uber competitive ace from a year ago -- even after wins. But that’s been especially true as the clunkers have compounded.
“It's different on different days,” Woo said. “Sometimes, you try to do too much. Sometimes, you just don't have it that day. Sometimes, if I had the answers, I wouldn't be standing here in this position.”
Thursday’s outing snowballed in the third inning alone, when he consistently fell behind and was forced to steer back over the plate to get back into counts. All of a sudden, his best weapon -- the two- and four-seam fastballs -- became a liability for predictability.
Because the Orioles essentially knew what was coming and pounced. Here’s how it played out:
- Leadoff homer to Colton Cowser (2-1 count, four-seamer)
- Single to Jackson Holliday (1-0, four-seamer)
- Single to Taylor Ward (2-0, four-seamer)
- Walk to Gunnar Henderson (full count, four-seamer)
- Wild pitch that scores a run (0-2 slider)
- 2-run double to Adley Rutschman (1-2, four-seamer)
- 2-run homer to Pete Alonso (first pitch, sweeper)
“The last thing you want to do when you're behind is trying to pinpoint even more,” Woo said. “When you get behind, you get into the hitters' counts, they know that I'm trying to get back in the count. And yeah, that's just on me for putting myself in that position, and then giving them just a better chance.”
Woo had only four wild pitches in his career to this point, but only one that scored a runner from third base -- coincidentally, to the Orioles, last June 5 but in Seattle. That one was to Henderson, but he also had another in that game, to Adley Rutschman.
Woo’s previous single-inning high in runs scored was five, exactly one year ago Thursday at Arizona. Eugenio Suárez took him deep for a grand slam seven weeks from becoming Woo’s teammate at the Trade Deadline.
Quirky coincidences aside -- earlier this year, Woo pointed to being too fine and pouring too much over scouting reports as a cause for his struggles. Thursday was about falling into bad counts. He’s also pointed to poor execution. Basically, it’s not one specific thing.
And he won’t get the chance to right the ship for another week, now that the Mariners are operating with a six-man rotation and with Monday’s off-day adding in an extra day’s rest.
Although there are inherent positives to the six-man rotation that the Mariners are deploying -- chief among them, adding extra rest in June to build up firepower for October -- there’s still the reality that it can present significant adjustments for creatures of habit.
That said, the oft-elaborate Woo shot down the notion abruptly in his shortest answer of the interview.
“No, not at all,” he said, when asked if the extra day might have had any impact on his performance.
To be sure, with a 94-degrees temperature at first pitch and winds blowing out, hitter-friendly Oriole Park at Camden Yards was a launching pad for both teams. Immediately after that six-spot from Woo, the Mariners answered with four of their own, and that came after Cole Young jumped on a solo homer on the third pitch of the game, off O’s ace Kyle Bradish.
Seattle actually outhit Baltimore (nine to seven) and fell to 27-8 when outhitting an opponent. But the Mariners were unable to overcome that one runaway inning -- which left Woo still searching for answers.