Mariners offense can’t back Woo’s strong start, lose 3-2 to Rangers

Kumar Rocker cuts up and sinks Mariners in 3-2 loss

If you’re a fan of pitching duels that feature deep arsenals, today would not be the game for you. But if you’re a fan of pitching duels, period, especially ones that feature two of today’s youngest hurlers, today is the game for you, as Bryan Woo and Kumar Rocker went toe-to-toe for six innings. But if you’re a fan of the Seattle Mariners, today was definitely not the game for you, as the Mariners notched another frustrating extra-innings loss, 3-2, on a day where Rocker and the Rangers kept the Mariners offense quiet.

The Rangers have been trying to unlock Kumar Rocker’s immense potential since drafting him in 2022, sending him back to the minors this year after a poor April to continue honing his command and tweaking his pitch mix to feature a cutter. That tweak seems to have worked, as his cutter was super effective today, especially when paired with his ground ball-inducing sinker; he was able to throw the cutter for swinging strikes and use the sinker for ground ball outs, over and over (and over and over) again.

Bryan Woo uncharacteristically struggled with his command to begin this game, falling behind two of his first three hitters with several noncompetitive misses and giving up a single before getting bailed out by a double play ball from Corey Seager. He then missed badly on his first pitch to Marcus Semien, but was able to rebound to strike him out on three consecutive pitches, getting him to chase after a four-seamer up, a sinker down, and a sweeper out.

It’s the exact same sequence Woo used in the second inning to work around a two-out single from Evan Carter, who sent a rare changeup from Woo right back up the middle, this time striking out Josh Jung on three pitches. Again, if you love deep variety of pitch arsenals, today was probably not for you, but if you like watching pitchers use One Weird Trick to get batters out, this game was definitely your jam.

Rocker’s one problem that hasn’t been solved in the minor leagues is his issues against lefties, and the Mariners stacked their lineup with lefties today. Luke Raley tagged him for the Mariners’ first hit of the day in the second inning, a line-drive single, and then in the third, Dominic Canzone demolished this curveball for the Mariners’ first run of the day:

Meanwhile, Woo’s command issues persisted, as he issued a leadoff walk to Alejandro Osuna in the third, only to be bailed out by a perfect throw from Cal Raleigh as Osuna was trying to steal. After some more hard contact on a deep flyout from Kyle Higashioka, Woo should have been out of the inning on a soft groundout from Josh Smith, but J.P. Crawford threw low to first and Solano couldn’t dig it out. That turned out to be significant, because Woo, behind in the count 2-1, then left a slider up for Seager to demolish for a go-ahead home run. It was Woo’s one real mistake of the day, but thanks to the error, it would be costly.

Woo and Rocker continued to trade blows for the next several innings, matching each other in pitch count on a day when both teams needed their starters to go deep. The Mariners were able to tie things up in the top of the sixth, thanks to—who else—Cal Raleigh, who smoked a ground ball single into right and then took second on a wild pitch from a tiring Rocker, working longer than he was accustomed to. Raley moved him to third with a groundout, and then Arozarena brought him home, taking advantage of a sinker that wound up in the middle of the plate.

Woo’s last inning of the game was his best, tying his career-high for strikeouts with nine as he opened the inning by striking out García for the third time, followed by striking out Heim on four pitches. Evan Carter battled him for seven pitches but popped out to end the inning, putting a bow on another excellent start by Woo. His 18 whiffs are second in MLB today.

The Rangers went to the bullpen and got Hoby Milner, who continued his absolute domination of the Mariners with a lightning-quick five pitch inning. The Mariners countered with Carlos Vargas, who got two quick outs but then walked Higashioka, the nine-hole hitter, on a pitch timer violation, prompting Dan Wilson to call for Gabe Speier to face the lefty Josh Smith, who grounded out to end the threat. Speier worked the eighth inning as well, getting his assigned lefty in Seager but also getting Semien to pop out and striking out García to preserve Matt Brash for possible extra innings.

Randy led off the ninth with a solid line drive single off Robert Garcia, but a Solano GIDP and a well-struck but bad-luck line drive from Canzone ended the threat before it even began, putting things right back in the hands of the bullpen. Brash had the task of keeping things in regulation and he did his job, working around a walk, to push things to extras.

Former Mariner Shawn Armstrong cut through the bottom of the Mariners lineup easily, striking out Dylan Moore on three pitches, striking out Cole Young looking on five pitches, and getting J.P. to pop out. That meant Andrés Muñoz had the unenviable task of facing the top of the lineup in the bottom of the tenth after getting his first out, striking out another former Mariner in Sam Haggerty. Muñoz hit Smith with a slider, and walked Corey Seager to load the bases for Marcus Semien with just one out, who then delivered the kill shot.

It was a frustrating loss, and a very frustrating game for J.P. Crawford in particular, whose -.219 WPA doesn’t take into account the game-changing error. It also hurts the Mariners by exhausting the bullpen yet again, especially the leverage arms part, putting even more pressure on Luis Castillo tomorrow to go deep and keep the Rangers at bay. Worst of all, the Mariners get no rest after this, returning home to start another two-series homestand with no off-days. Go Cubs go, I guess.