On Thursday night, Seattle Mariners fans cursed the baseball gods who decided that nine innings were necessary to complete a game.
For seven frames, starter Bryan Woo was unhittable. He held the New York Yankees in check for most of the night, dominating on his way to an eighth-inning exit. When second baseman Jazz Chisholm broke up the no-hitter, Woo responded with class, but karma didn't reward him immediately.
Woo would surrender another hit and a sacrifice fly before leaving with a 5-1 lead. Moments later, Giancarlo Stanton homered. Andrés Muñoz collapsed in the ninth, meaning Aaron Judge earned an at-bat with a man on third in extra innings. Ballgame.
Seattle fell 6-5 in the Bronx, completing a three-game sweep. As the Mariners looked to rebound, it's worth considering how Woo took down the American League's best lineup.
Woo found a cheat code
The biggest difference in Woo's game on Thursday can be found in his pitch mix.
Of his 103 pitches, 10 were sweepers, nine were changeups, five were sinkers, and three were sliders. In Hamiltonian fashion, the other 76 pitchers were four-seam fastballs.
That's an incredible commitment to one pitch across a start, especially given that New York is among the strongest teams in the league against the heater. It was a clear deviation from his other starts as well.
Woo has thrown fastballs (as a subcategory) over 70% of the time in 10 of his 18 starts. However, every prior instance came with his sinker in a significant role, making up between 19% and 42% of his total pitches in those outings. On Thursday, he threw it on just 4.8% of his pitches.
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Woo's fastball generated an impressive 10 whiffs, largely up in the zone, and picked up another six called strikes, attacking arm side to freeze hitters. He wasn't afraid to challenge the Yankees in the zone, and his aggressiveness was rewarded.
Interestingly enough, Woo's strategy had a notable exception: Judge. Woo threw 10 sweepers on Thursday. Every single one came against Judge, compared to just three fastballs and a sinker. He kept the ball low and away with the soft stuff, and it worked, generating a strikeout and two flyouts.
In all, Woo finished his outing with 7.1 innings, two hits, two runs, two walks, and five strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.59 on the way to his first All-Star Game.
Expecting Woo to continue with such a difference in fastball and sinker usage is ambitious, but the ability to lean on one of his fastballs when the moment calls for it gives him yet another way to win. As he looks to pitch Seattle into the playoffs, he'll hope the bullpen gives him the relief it didn't on Thursday.
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