Bryan Woo’s Search for Answers Is Becoming a Real Mariners Problem on the Road

Bryan Woo gave the Mariners and their fans a complicated postgame answer. One thing for certain, it didn’t include any spin, excuses, or fake confidence. And his performance was another one he refuses to brush off.

After the Mariners got smacked in an 11-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Woo stood there and sounded like a pitcher who knew the questions were fair and hated that he didn’t have a better answer for them. Still, he didn’t run from them. He didn’t point any fingers. He just wore it.

Bryan Woo’s Raw Postgame Honesty Should Not Hide the Mariners’ Bigger Issue

Woo’s night against Pittsburgh didn’t start like a disaster. He opened with three hitless innings. But the Pirates put it all together in the fourth inning, stacking up five runs and finished Woo’s night quickly. His final line: four innings, six hits, five earned runs, two walks and four strikeouts. The bullpen didn’t exactly keep them in the game either.

A postgame video shared by Brady Farkas captured Woo’s frustration in real time. What stuck afterward was his answer.

“Honestly, if I had answers for you, I’d have answers for myself,” Woo said after the game. “It seems like I’m always digging for answers. I’m looking everywhere. I just don’t know. I wish I had a better answer than that.”

It’s easy to respect Woo’s accountability. And he’s earned that. But accountability doesn’t erase the pattern. He’s now 1-6 with a 6.38 ERA in road games this season. It’s quite the contrast to being 5-0 with a 2.00 ERA at home.

So, the question isn’t about Woo’s talent. It’s about why these road games have been such a struggle. It looks like the issues start the second time through the order. Woo has a 9.56 ERA in the third inning this season, giving up 17 earned runs in that inning alone. The fourth inning usually isn’t where the chaos takes place. In fact, these were the first runs he’s given up in the fourth all season.

However, the trouble really starts when the lineup turns over. That is typically where a pitcher should start to rely on his secondary pitches.

Woo threw 85 total pitches, and 65 of them were fastballs. More specifically, he threw 55 four-seamers and 10 sinkers. At some point, good teams catch on. Woo is an established enough pitcher that dominating purely off spin rate every time out isn’t going to work. Luis Castillo is struggling with the same thing. When there isn’t enough deception, it usually doesn’t end well.

Sure, there’s more to it: location, sequencing and all that. But when a team starts to sit on your fastball, it becomes mano a mano and hope for the best.

Woo’s own words made it clear that he is asking those questions, too.

“I wish I could say I could just wipe the slate clean and say I’m going to get ready for the next one, but I’m not,” Woo said. “When you keep putting your team in a hole, it’s hard to brush it aside.”

Woo isn’t solely responsible for the 11-1 loss. The lineup scored one run. That’s also unacceptable. And the bullpen gave up more damage. It became a full-team mess by the end.

But Woo is the headline because his issue is bigger than one bad inning in Pittsburgh.

It’s becoming a real road problem. And the Mariners need him to solve it before it starts shaping the way they think about him in bigger games.

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