Bryan Woo is an outlier in Mariners rotation lately — in a good way

BOSTON — Bryan Woo is currently an outlier among the Mariners starting rotation, albeit in a way the ballclub would like to see the rest of the starters begin matching what Woo is accomplishing.

In the previous 16 games before Wednesday night against the Red Sox, Woo was the only Mariners starter to pitch at least six innings in any start. Not Logan Gilbert. Not Luis Castillo. Not Bryce Miller.

The streak finally came to an end when Emerson Hancock threw six innings in the M’s 8-5 win over Boston. But until Hancock recorded the final out of the sixth inning, it was only Woo who had put together the combination of success and efficiency over the past two weeks that’s become the expectation from Seattle’s starters.

And in the process, Woo has managed to give the M’s overworked bullpen a needed blow, especially in his last two starts when he pitched seven innings in both.

“It seems like both times he’s been able to get through seven is a time when we really needed him to do that and that’s a huge lift for your bullpen when he’s able to do that,” manager Dan Wilson said. “He just has that ability with that fastball, he can get some quick innings from contact.”

Seattle’s bullpen has found itself heavily called upon through the first 23 games of the season entering Wednesday night’s game against the Red Sox. It’s been tough duty for a group that is still missing a key piece in Matt Brash and had to send expected contributor Gregory Santos down to the minors because of continuing control issues.

Entering Wednesday’s game, the Mariners have thrown the third most bullpen innings in baseball with 93 1/3 innings. Only the Yankees (100 2/3) and Miami (96 2/3) have called on its bullpens more than Seattle to date.

At this time last year, the Mariners bullpen had thrown only 72 2/3 innings with two of those belonging to infielder Josh Rojas.

The M’s are hoping Woo can deliver another deep start on Thursday in the series finale against the Red Sox with Boston ace Garrett Crochet set to be his opposition.   

Woo has tossed seven innings in his past two starts, splitting a win against Texas with a loss in Toronto. In the start prior to beating the Rangers, the right-hander tossed six innings against San Francisco.

Other than Woo, the only Mariners starters to finish six innings this season before Wednesday were Logan Gilbert on opening day and Luis Castillo on April 2 against Detroit when both pitched seven innings. Hancock can now be added to that list, but by this point last year, Mariners starters pitched at least six innings in 13 of the first 23 games.  

What has made Woo’s last two starts notable was his ability to adjust to some early trouble and still pitch deep into the game. On April 12 against Texas, Woo needed 27 pitches to get out of the first inning and was at 51 pitches after three innings before retiring the final 12 batters he faced.

Last Friday against Toronto, Woo was at 32 pitches through two innings and 71 after five, but retired the final nine batters to get through the seventh.

“I mean, it’s efficiency. It’s getting ahead. It’s winning a lot of the counts we talk about,” Woo said. “Understanding the more you try to play around with at-bats and like, you get to a certain point of especially when you win 0-0, 1-1, you’re in good counts, put guys away right away. Don’t wait around.”

Woo recalled a conversation with George Kirby last year that helped change his mindset. The crux was strikeouts are cool, but pitching deep into the game is more important.

“Especially in today’s game, you get caught up a lot in like strikeouts and velocity and stuff,” Woo said. “But at the end of the day, like, your jobs is to go get outs, your job is to put up zeros, your job is to go deep in the game.”

Lao out, Lawrence back

The shuffle of arms in the bullpen continued with right-hander Casey Lawrence being brought back again and righty Sauryn Lao getting optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Lawrence has been on a constant yo-yo between the Rainiers and Mariners over the past 10 days. Lawrence was designated for assignment on Sunday to clear a spot for Lao, but the pair are swapping spots for now.

Lao made his major league debut on Tuesday night and threw 1 2/3 innings of relief, allowed three hits, one unearned run and struck out three. He also got a pretty good memory of making his debut at Fenway Park.

“I thought Sauryn did a really nice job last night getting his debut here in Fenway and Casey will come up just to provide, our bullpen is still fairly thin, and just trying to create a little more depth out there,” Wilson said.