Bryan Woo was knocked around on Thursday night as the M's lost to the Baltimore Orioles. They'll continue their 10-game road trip on Friday night in Washington.
The Seattle Mariners enter play on Friday afternoon at 36-34 and in first place in the American League West through 70 games.
While the M's have played well enough to secure first place, for now, not everything is going according to plan. Injuries to several key players have impacted the Mariners, with Matt Brash and JP Crawford being the most recent main contributors to join Cal Raleigh and Brendan Donovan on the injured list.
Bryan Woo continues to struggle on the road, as evidenced by his six runs allowed in five innings on Thursday night in a loss to the Orioles, and he's not the only one scuffling in the rotation.
I spoke more about all this on the most recent edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast.
Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo (22) looks on during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images"What the Mariners expected coming into the season, a lot of it isn't really happening right now. And again, that is worrisome.
The Mariners are being pumped up by Emerson Hancock, unexpected. Luke Raley, unexpected. And Dom Canzone, unexpected. Those guys are having excellent seasons, and they are propping up guys that are not having excellent seasons and guys that you counted on to have big seasons, right?
Logan Gilbert has had an uneven season. George Kirby the same. Bryan Woo now the same as well. Bryan Woo deserves credit on Thursday for throwing four scoreless innings, but the other inning in there, he gave up six runs. This is now, I believe, the fifth time or the sixth time that Bryan Woo has allowed five runs or more in his starts. He's got an ERA over five on the road.
Bryan Woo is supposed to be the given in this rotation. Again, maybe it's balanced out because Emerson Hancock is not supposed to be the given, but Cal Raleigh, supposed to be a given, hasn't been. Brendan Donovan, supposed to be a given, hasn't been. Again, Bryan Woo hasn't been. Logan Gilbert and George Kirby haven't been.
And now you're looking at it where four-sixths of your rotation are question marks right now. Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, and Bryan Woo, on any given day, can give you a great performance, but on any given day can give you something really uneven to below average.
There's too much uncertainty for my liking. Again, other guys are stepping up, and that is excellent, and the Mariners are lucky to have that, but they are in a position right now where they got to get some of these guys—you know, water always finds its level. They need some of these guys to find their level because the Mariners are counting on Bryan Woo and counting on Cal Raleigh and counting on Brendan Donovan to be there all season long."
Fortunately for the M's, Raleigh is working back from an oblique strain, and he hit another home run for Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday. He's expected to be back during the team's next homestand, which begins on Tuesday.
The Mariners and Nationals will play on Friday afternoon (3:30 p.m. PT) with Bryce Miller taking the mound.
Of note
You can listen to the latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, featuring Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Andy Helwig, here. You can also watch below.
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