Oakland native Bryan Woo will put his unbeaten homecoming record on the line when the Seattle Mariners seek to avoid a three-game road sweep by the San Francisco Giants in the interleague series finale Sunday afternoon.
Woo (1-0, 1.50 ERA) has pitched four games in the San Francisco Bay Area since making his major league debut in 2023, going 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA in three starts in Oakland against the Athletics and 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA in one start in San Francisco.
The outing against the Giants came in July 2023, when the right-hander limited the home team to two runs and three hits in six innings in a 6-5 win. He did not get a decision in a game he left with Seattle trailing 2-1.
Coincidentally, Woo made his 2025 season debut at home against the Athletics last Sunday. He gave up just one run and three hits over six innings in Seattle’s 2-1 win.
The Mariners have won just once in five games since. They’ve been held to three runs or less in six of their nine outings.
Seattle has gotten little production from the middle of its lineup. Cal Raleigh, the No. 3 hitter, had a single in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to San Francisco, raising his season average to .156. Book-ends Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena were hitless in the middle game of the series and watched their averages fall to .219 and .129, respectively.
The Saturday loss followed a polar-opposite, 10-9 defeat in the series opener on Friday, a game in which the Seattle offense held the upper hand until the Giants’ Willy Adames stroked a walk-off, two-run single in the last of the 11th, turning a 9-8 deficit into a 10-9 victory.
“Baseball is a beautiful, amazing sport,” Raleigh noted of the Mariners’ rocky start. “But it can also be a (struggle) sometimes.”
Pitching dominated the rematch on Saturday, with Robbie Ray, Hayden Birdsong and Ryan Walker combining to limit the Mariners to seven hits. Seattle had 15 hits on Friday.
One night after Adames’ heroics, Jung Hoo Lee and Matt Chapman were the driving forces Saturday with a combined five hits, including four doubles, four runs and two RBIs. Chapman was 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position.
Giants manager Bob Melvin said he’s enjoying the somebody-different-every-day aspect of his team’s six-game winning streak.
“Everybody is getting involved here, which is really key for this team right now,” he said. “Everybody’s getting a chance to play. Everybody’s getting a chance to pitch. It’s a pretty good feeling.”
It will be right-hander Jordan Hicks’ chance to pitch again in the series finale. Hicks (1-0, 0.00 ERA) was even better than Woo in his first 2025 start on Monday, blanking the Houston Astros on the road over six innings, allowing just one hit in a 7-2 Giants win.
The 28-year-old has never started a game against the Mariners in his seven-year career. He faced them for the only time in relief last August, allowing one run in two-thirds of an inning.
–Field Level Media
