SEATTLE — Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo got back to his normal self with a nine-strikeout, six-inning outing in a 3-1 win against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

The 2025 All-Star walked two batters and allowed one hit in the outing without allowing a run.

Woo's quality start came after two-straight starts where he allowed at least six runs. Those came against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 25 and Kansas City Royals on May 1.

The 26-year-old was able to regain his elite form by doing something several of his teammates on the rotation have done this year: stop trying to overthink and be perfect and just be confident in his stuff.

"When you're going out, it's just trying your stuff. No matter what," Woo said in a postgame interview Wednesday at T-Mobile Park. "I was talking to some of the other guys, starters, hitters, too. I don't know what it is. For baseball, when you're not committed in yourself, you don't trust yourself — for some reason, the same pitches, whether they're really, really good, same velocity, same movement, they just don't work. I don't know what it is. Baseball is a weird sport like that.

"You try too hard and you try to be too perfect, 98 (miles per hour) at the top of the zone just gets whacked. Ninety-three with conviction and commitment and trust just works. I don't know what it is. It'll never show up on the stat sheet."

Woo has been hard on himself following his rougher outings. Even several of his better starts have draw self-imposed criticism.

But, as Woo mentioned, when he's confident in himself and not overthinking or pushing the envelope, that's when he's at his best.

Before his pair of outings against the Cardinals and Royals, Woo's season ERA was 2.25. That mark ballooned to 4.61 after the starts against St. Louis and Kansas City and went back down to 4.02 after Wednesday's gem.

It's an ironic twist that being less shackled by the pursuit of perfection has been what's helped Woo find his All-Star form.

And Woo isn't the only pitcher in the starting rotation who has discovered that.

George Kirby has garnered a reputation over his major league career (debuted in 2022) for his command and pitching angry. It hasn't been uncommon in his career that, when he makes a mistake, to force a pitch or remain steadfast in an approach that has mixed results, almost to prove a point.

Kirby has said that the anger is still there, but, with help from M's mental skills coach Adam Bernero, he has learned to harness that anger to better results.

Kirby's been more accepting of mistakes with this newfound mindset. Like Woo, Kirby has accepted he's not always going to be perfect. And it's led him being on pace for his second career All-Star selection.

Kirby has a 2.94 ERA and has struck out 39 hitters in 52 innings pitched across eight starts this season. Five of his outings have been quality starts.

"I think we've seen a lot of maturity in George that way," manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview Wednesday at T-Mobile Park. "I think, in terms of just his general demeanor on the mound, he's been very steady. We love to see that. ... Just that consistency. Sometimes you need a little bit of extra emotion out there to get you going. But for the most part, I think George had done a really nice job of just staying focused, staying right where he needs to be."

The Mariners starting rotation has had a reputation as one of the best in baseball for years. After a brief speed bump last year, in large part due to injuries, it's finally started to regain a semblance of that form.

And all it took for Seattle to resemble it's previous dominance was accept when it's not.

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