The Seattle Mariners desperately need a win Wednesday afternoon and are asking starting pitcher Bryan Woo to deliver it.
The Mariners will try to salvage the final game of their three-game series against the Texas Rangers, whose 3-2 victory Tuesday clinched their first series victory over Seattle since September 2023.
The Mariners enter Wednesday’s game in Arlington, Texas, as losers of four consecutive games — all by one run — and six of their past seven contests.
The lack of offense helped the Mariners to sqander a quality start Tuesday from George Kirby, who pitched a complete game and gave up three runs on six hits in eight innings in a 3-2 loss.
Seattle pounded out eight hits but went only 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
“As opposed to last night, where we weren’t able to get traffic, tonight we got some traffic out there,” manager Dan Wilson said after the Tuesday game. “We were able to work a couple walks and get a couple base hits, but not able to get the significant runs across tonight.”
In the opener of the series on Monday, Seattle had just two hits and lost 2-1.
“Sometimes we get a little anxious and sometimes we try to do too much in those situations,” Wilson said. “The guys in there are trying so hard to break it open. That’s what everybody wants in there. Sometimes in those situations, we need to be able to relax a little bit. But that will come. I think it’s coming. The at-bats were better tonight.”
Woo (0-0, 1.38 ERA) has made two starts this season, getting two no-decisions. Against the Rangers, the right-hander is 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA in seven career starts.
The Rangers will counter with left-hander MacKenzie Gore (1-0, 3.97) who has pitched at least 5 1/3 innings in each of his first two starts and has not given up more than three runs in either. Against Seattle, he has a career record of 1-9 with an 0.69 ERA in two starts.
Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka said he is grateful to have won the series already.
“It’s hugely important,” he said. “[The Mariners] and the Astros are definitely our biggest rivals. Anytime we can beat these guys, it feels good, because they played us really tough, especially the last couple years. It gets tiring losing to the same team.”
The Rangers have not been very productive on offense this season, with nine total runs over their past five games but two wins in that stretch. Each of their past five games has been decided by two or fewer runs, and Texas has won two straight on the heels of a four-game losing streak.
“They’re just coming in, trying to execute and trust their process, doing what we talked about in spring training,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker told The Dallas Morning News. “Seattle is a really tough team. They execute all facets of the game. They’re really well-coached and managed, and they pitch as well as anybody, and they have a dangerous lineup.”
The Mariners are still looking for their first series win of the season after splitting four games with Cleveland, then losing two of three games each to the Yankees and Angels and two to the Rangers.
Seattle needs the offense to ride to the level of the pitching. Slugger Cal Raleigh is batting just .156, and two cogs in their lineup, Josh Naylor and Julio Rodriguez, are off to miserable starts at the plate.
Naylor is batting .104 and Rodriguez .152, and neither has an extra base this season.
–Field Level Media
