HOUSTON -- There’s no way that he could’ve known it at the time, especially with so much left to play, but a pair of errors in the first inning on Saturday afternoon at Daikin Park wound up being the decisive difference for Bryan Woo and the Mariners on an otherwise quiet day that ended with a 2-1 loss to the Astros.
Woo has fielded plenty of athletic groundouts -- maybe more so than any pitcher on the team -- but he made an uncharacteristically wide throw to first base on a chopper from Christian Walker down the third-base line that sailed into foul territory way down the right-field line, allowing Jose Altuve to race all the way home from first.
Then, on the very next pitch, a 104 mph one-hopper from Victor Caratini chopped directly in front of second baseman Leo Rivas and allowed Walker to score from second.
All of a sudden, the Mariners trailed by two and never recovered.
“I maybe just forced it a little bit,” Woo said. “I want to make the play. I know I can make the play. But fundamentally, maybe just isn't the right play there. So, yeah, I've just got to know the situation, see the play happening and actually developing. But, yeah, just be better.”
A half-inning later, Randy Arozarena ripped a triple over center fielder Jake Meyers’ head and scored on an RBI groundout from Mitch Garver. But the Mariners only had three more runners reach scoring position despite four walks against lefty spin specialist Framber Valdez, who they know all too well. Only having five hits obviously played a part, too.
Woo rebounded, as he has throughout what’s been a big step-forward season for the third-year right-hander. But as has also been the case, his first-inning issues persisted -- even though his two runs on Saturday were unearned, which lowered his ERA from 2.65 to 2.40.
In 10 starts and 63 2/3 innings this season, Woo has surrendered 17 earned runs and the additional two unearned runs from Saturday (19 total) -- nine of those have come in the first inning and the other 10 from the second inning on.
“I feel like it's more of an intensity [thing] and something I'm still trying to figure out. There's something about the first inning, I just needed to be better.”
He also surrendered a season-high nine hits, with seven coming on pitches over the heart of the plate.
“Execution, especially with the sinker, not great,” Woo said. “I just never really got [inside] the way that I wanted to. And then, yeah, just left a lot of pitches [in the] middle that they were able to get back up on, a lot of ground balls or whatever that they hit back up the middle or hit on the ground. But just pitches that I didn't execute to spots that I wanted to. I just didn't make adjustments the way that I needed to.”
That said, Woo’s remarkable ability to work out of jams continued, as he’s now held the Yankees, Padres and Astros hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position over his past three starts.
“He gets in that solid mental state that he gets to, and I think that's a big part of it,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He really locks in.”
All told, Woo still kept his season-long streak of starts beyond the sixth inning intact. But the Mariners also suffered the rare loss when their starter pitches at least six innings, as they were 18-3 entering play with that criteria. They are now 7-3 this season behind Woo, who was making his 50th career start.
Seattle also saw its road series winning streak snapped at seven, as the best that the club can go for would be a four-game split in Sunday’s finale behind Luis Castillo.