Given how the first four innings went, it’s surprising that today was the day Bryan Woo’s streak of 25 consecutive six-inning starts came to an end. Woo started out pitching from the rocking chair against the potent Padres lineup in the final game of the 2025 Vedder Cup, the only real hiccup being a single off the bat of Fernando Tatís, Jr. in the third inning. Woo also allowed a baserunner in the second, and while it was technically scored a hit, it was actually a good example of where we could use my proposed No Fault Base: Xander Bogaerts hit a perfectly routine groundball to third base, but because he broke his bat in the process and sent the barrel flying, Eugenio Suárez had to circle around it to get to the ball, by which point he was too late to make the out. Not really a hit, certainly not an error. Just score it a No Fault Base. Anyway, aside from those two baserunners, the only thing that could even conceivably be called a hiccup for Woo through those first four innings was an eight-pitch at-bat by Ryan O’Hearn that ended with an easy fly out.
That was a sharp contrast for how Padres’ starter Yu Darvish’s first four innings went. In the second inning, he gave up a single to Suárez, and because he’s so slow to the plate, he couldn’t even hold Geno’s concrete shoes on first base. That stolen base proved critical. With two outs, up came Luke Raley, who sported some rec specs again today after giving up on them earlier this year. He says this is because he has trouble picking up spin and the glasses add an extra element for him to identify pitches, which he specifically wanted for Darvish even though he hates that he has to wear eye black with them. (His astigmatism prevents him from wearing contacts.) But I think that’s bunk. With Trent Thornton injured for the remainder of the year and Logan Evans’ season likely done with Bryce Miller’s return, the Mariners are down to zero rec specs guys, an unacceptable state of affairs, and Raley’s a team player.
Whatever the reason, the glasses worked as Raley sent a ball into right-center for an RBI double. With Tatís fielding the ball and two outs, it was a risky call to try to take second, but Raley got there. More importantly, Suárez was able to take advantage of his stolen base and scored from second base. Ryan Blake makes the good point that Suárez showed some good baseball IQ in hustling home to make sure he touched home before the ball got to second so the run would count even if Raley got nail-yed.
Darvish’s real trouble came in the fourth, which Julio Rodríguez led off with a single. Julio took off for second, and Josh Naylor, upon seeing that, turned to the bunting position, which interrupted Freddy Fermin’s throw. “I was just waiting for Julio to steal the whole time,” he said after the game. When the ball sailed into center field, Julio was able to take third. There’s really no limit to the ways Josh Naylor can impact the game. Yu Darvish seemed a little shaken up and walked Naylor from there. With Julio on third, second base open, and Naylor on first, you might have expected Naylor to steal a base, but the clearly-on-tilt Darvish served up a cookie to Geno, who sent the first pitch into the bullpens to give the Mariners a 4-0 lead.
With Darvish’s day done after those four innings and Woo cruising, you would have thought Woo would make it through six. But a jam in the fifth inning ate up his pitch count, even as he worked out of it without giving up a run. So when the BABIP monster reared its head in the sixth, Woo found himself with the bases loaded and his pitch count over 90. Still, he had two outs, and the noodle bat of Jose Iglesias was up. Woo did what he was supposed to do and got the count to 0-2 before inducing a swinging bunt and making an excellent play on the ball. But Iglesias just beat the throw to secure San Diego’s first run of the day. Out came Dan Wilson.
After the game, Wilson said, “It’s not about the streak, it’s about wanting to stay in the game and keep us where we were. I think he was frustrated he had to come out, but he understands completely . . . those are the tough decisions. Bryan has had an incredible season, but we’ve got a few games left, and it’s time to be about the team. And he understands that completely. That’s what makes Bryan Woo so great; he understands the gravity of the moment. And he was on board. But those are tough ones. You want to do it for Bryan, because he’s had such a great season. But this is the moment where it had to end.”
As disappointed as I am to see his streak come to an end, I have a few thoughts. First, I can’t let today’s disappointment step on the incredible accomplishment that Woo achieved. His streak of 25 starts with six innings pitched and two walks or fewer is an MLB record. The only person with a longer streak of appearances is literally Cy Young, who went 30 games but mixed in some relief appearances. When you consider that Woo was a reliever in college and had never recorded even a single MLB out in the sixth inning until August 2 of last year, the only word for it is unbelievable. We are lucky to have witnessed it. Second, I became invested in the streak over time, but let’s be real; while it’s a legitimate and impressive accomplishment, I’m not convinced it’s really, you know, A Thing. If you’d asked me before the season who held the record for the most starts of at least six innings to begin a season, I would have had absolutely no idea, nor how many starts that record was. I just can’t be too mad about something I’d never given a second’s thought to until three months ago. Finally, the Mariners won today, and I’m confident that’s what really matters to Woo. He was visibly angry in the clubhouse after the game, ultimately saying “Dan gave me more than a long enough leash.” But whenever I’ve heard him talk about the streak before, he’s always emphasized the team aspect of it, how proud he is to be able to create space for the bullpen to rest and the remaining starters to have bad days, that he’s paying back what he feels like was a debt he accrued in his first two seasons. Like Dan said, the win matters the most.
For today, the real consequence of Woo getting pulled was that the bullpen needed to cover parts of four innings rather than three. Gabe Speier finished the sixth (with an RBI HBP that’s going to happen once in a while if a lefty tries to bunt on a Gabe Speier sinker). Matt Brash got through the most dangerous part of the lineup in the seventh. And Ándres Muñoz was of course being saved for the ninth. That left the Mariners where they’ve been all season: needing just one more reliever they could count on for an inning in a tight game.
Enter Eduard Bazardo. That’s a familiar phrase, as Bazzy has been leaned on so heavily, I could swear Scott Servais was working his way through his Annual Nick Vincent Memorial Sacrificial Reliever. Bazardo’s 66 innings coming into today’s game were top five among relievers this year. He’s pitched two innings six times, with another eight times recording at least four outs. Today would be yet another notch on the usage belt, with Bazardo being asked to pitch three days in a row for the first time in his career.
To be sure, Bazardo has been less than spectacular this year, which is why we talk about still looking for another reliable reliever. His 14.6% K%-BB% is right in the 50th percentile among qualified relievers. And his .215 BABIP and 85.9% strand rate are artificially deflating his ERA and do not feel warranted by his .368 xwOBAcon. And that’s before you consider that he has usually not been facing an opposing lineup’s best hitters. I’ve also been skeptical of how he butters his bread, with his slider getting so much extra movement that he’s able to rack up called strikes. That feels like the other shoe’s going to drop once batters have seen him a couple times and are better ready for it.
But you’ve got to give Bazardo this: he has absolutely shown up when it’s counted, and today was one of those days. He made mincemeat out of his hitters, striking out Ryan O’Hearn and Xander Bogaerts and getting a weak groundball from Gavin Sheets. It’s even more impressive than it sounds. Bazardo didn’t really have his slider working today, and he pulled it off mostly relying on his sinker, the weaker of his two pitches. But he threw eight of them and got five called strikes and two whiffs. The one of them that a batter was able to make contact with was the one that Bogaerts hit right back down into his foot leading to the lead art on this recap. It was yet another time he’s been pressed into high-leverage duty and delivered, which has happened more than you might think. After today, Bazardo has a cumulative WPA of 1.95 this year, which is fourth on the Mariners and 60th in all of baseball, including both pitchers and hitters. It’s about time he got a Sun Hat Award for making a noteworthy individual contribution to a game. Why not the Mariners’ 72nd win of the year, one that allows them to head to Cleveland after a 4-2 homestand and a 5-1 season series against the just-for-fun-rival Padres.
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