Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo #33 reacts after striking out San Francisco Giants' Casey Schmitt #6 in the second inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, July 3, 2023. Woo played for Alameda High School. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — The rich tradition of Alameda baseball was on display at Oracle Park on Monday night, as Alameda High School graduate Bryan Woo was on the mound against the San Francisco Giants.
The rookie right-hander for the Seattle Mariners was making just his sixth career big league start.
He started the game with a 95-mph fastball blown right by Giants leadoff man LaMonte Wade Jr. It set the tone for a strong night from Woo, who fired a steady dose of mid-90s heaters to go with the occasional off-speed pitches as he tossed six innings, allowing just two runs on three hits and two walks, striking out seven.
It was a masterful performance and it came with only one mistake.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Woo walked Michael Conforto to start the inning, recorded two quick outs and then went ahead 1-2 on Blake Sabol. His next pitch was a 95-mph fastball above the zone — a pitch the Giants had been swinging through all night — but this time Sabol smacked it about as well as someone can hit that pitch.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound catcher kept his hands inside and walloped it 407 feet over the center-field wall for a two-run shot that temporarily put the Giants ahead, 2-1.
Woo didn’t allow another baserunner. He lowered his ERA to 4.08.
Since allowing six earned runs in his big league debut on June 3, Woo has a 2.70 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings.
“I just feel so happy for him and his family,” Alameda baseball coach Ken Arnerich said by phone on Monday. “He deserves everything he has accomplished so far. He’s a great kid and there’s no one that works harder at a craft.”
Woo played second base until his junior year at Alameda High, when he started pitching. His senior year, he hit .422 while going 8-2 with a 1.25 ERA on the mound to earn West Alameda County Conference MVP honors. After three years pitching for Cal Poly, he was drafted in the sixth round by the Mariners in the 2021 MLB Draft.
“If he stays healthy he’s going to have a great career,” Arnerich said. “It couldn’t happen to a finer kid.”
Originally published at Jason Mastrodonato