Right-hander Bryan Woo will return to the mound on Wednesday night when the Seattle Mariners play the second contest of a three-game series against the host Cleveland Guardians.
Woo (3-0, 1.07 ERA) was scratched from his last scheduled start due to discomfort in his right forearm. An MRI came back clean on the 24-year-old, who likely will be on a pitch count Wednesday. He also missed the first month of the season due to elbow inflammation.
Woo certainly would welcome the offensive fireworks the Mariners flashed in the series opener.
Seattle recorded a season-high nine extra-base hits (six doubles, protectohiocleanenergyjobs three homers) in its 8-5 victory over Cleveland on Tuesday. J.P. Crawford belted a two-run homer and Ohio native Luke Raley and Dylan Moore also went deep as the Mariners secured their fourth straight win and their 17th victory in the past 22 games.
Thanks to the hot stretch, the Mariners are a season-best 13 games over .500.
“We’re feeling good,” said Bryce Miller, who picked up the win on Tuesday and is 6-5. “This is how we expected to start the year, and we’re starting to put it together. It’s a really good baseball team. We’re going to throw it, and whenever we swing it like that, it’s going to be tough to beat us.”
The Guardians, meanwhile, have matched their longest losing streak of the season, three games. They also dropped three in a row from May 9-11.
“We just didn’t get the big hit tonight,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said after the Tuesday defeat. “We were close to outhitting them or just about even, but theirs were for extra bases. Ours weren’t. There’s the difference in the game. They cashed in their opportunities and we didn’t.”
Moore has flustered the Guardians in his career, recording 11 extra-base hits (five doubles, six homers) in 16 games. Moore also doubled Tuesday.
Ty France recorded three of Seattle’s seven walks in his first game since being activated from the 10-day injured list. He missed nine games due to a fractured right heel.
Woo will be opposed by Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee (4-2, 3.94 ERA). Both pitchers will be facing the opposition for the first time in their careers.
Bibee, 25, is looking to rebound after one pitch effectively spoiled his latest outing. He struck out a career-high 11 batters before Jeimer Candelario deposited his final offering over the wall in right field for a three-run homer, sending Cleveland to a 4-2 loss against the Cincinnati Reds on June 12.
“That’s the best he’s thrown the ball,” Vogt said. “There was basically one hard-hit ball the whole game. Candelario was locked in all night. I thought the changeup was a really good pitch. I thought we had a chance to put him away. He just put a really good swing on it.”
Cleveland’s Steven Kwan is riding a 12-game hitting streak and a 23-game on-base streak into the Wednesday contest.
Will Brennan, who had three hits in the series opener, is batting .324 (12-for-37) in June and .385 (10-for-26) in nine career games vs. Seattle.
–Field Level Media
