Seattle Mariners Avoid Injury Scare to Starting Pitcher
The Seattle Mariners are in the middle of one of the most eventful and positive weeks of the season so far.
The Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 10-0 on Friday and 6-3 on Saturday and have hit seven home runs during those two games and acquired outfielder Randy Arozarena and reliever Yimi Garcia ahead of the trade deadline.
With so much good going on this week — it's easy to forget about the negatives that have been surrounding Seattle before then. The Mariners have two key players on the 10-day injured list (Julio Rodriguez and JP Crawford) and avoided another potential injury scare when Gregory Santos' MRIs for his knee came back clean. Santos pitched in Saturday's win against the White Sox.
The Seattle had another injury scare Saturday — this time to starting pitcher Bryan Woo.
Woo exited Saturday's win against Chicago after only pitching four innings pitched. He let up four hits, one run (unearned), waked one batter and struck out three before he was pulled.
Bryan Woo, 95mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/irKFSajuug
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 27, 2024
According to Baseball Savant, Woo's velocity in his pitches dipped the longer his outing went. His fastball topped out at 92.3 miles per hour in the fourth inning. He hit over 96 MPH three times in the first.
According to Adam Jude of the Seattle Times — Woo exited the game with right hamstring discomfort. Woo missed three weeks of the season with a hamstring injury in the same leg.
But it looks like disaster has been averted.
According to Jude's reporting, Mariners manager Scott Servais said he's not overly concerned expects Woo to be ready for his next start.
Woo commented on his exit in a story published by Jude:
"I just felt it a little bit. The training staff and the coaches were wanting to be cautious about it and smart about it. Hamstrings can be tricky. I don’t have a whole a lot of experience with them, so I just trust the training staff and what they’re telling me. Yeah, it’s been frustrating, but just doing what I can, listening to them, and I know that they’ve got my best interest."
An injury to Woo would change priorities drastically for Seattle. The team is reportedly interested in acquiring another reliever and another bat before the July 30 trade deadline. Top trade target Jazz Chisholm Jr. was traded to the New York Yankees on Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays seem unwilling to part with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (at least not without a Juan Soto-esque haul) and Miami Marlins reliever Tanner Scott will likely require a decent trade package.
An injury to a starting pitcher would change potential trade priorities drastically for the Mariners.
Luckily, it looks like they won't have to worry about that.
Related Stories on Seattle Mariners
MARINERS STAY ROLLING: The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Saturday behind a two-home-run day form Jorge Polanco and a three-hit day from Victor Robles. CLICK HERE
MARINERS BLOW OUT WHITE SOX: The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 10-0 on Friday behind an eight-run first inning and the ninth consecutive quality start for George Kirby. CLICK HERE
AROZARENA COMMENTS ON JOINING MARINERS: New Seattle Mariners outfielder Randy Arozarena took some time before the game on Saturday to talk about being traded and joining the team. CLICK HERE
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