Bryan Woo gave the Mariners exactly the kind of start they needed in the Bronx. The rest of the night went the way far too many of their nights have gone lately.
Seattle carried a 1-0 lead through six innings Tuesday before the Yankees flipped the game in the seventh and rolled to a 4-1 win. The loss was the Mariners’ fifth straight, dropped them to a season-high eight games under .500, and kept the spiral going in a season that keeps finding the same painful ending: a bullpen breakdown paired with a lineup that can’t do enough to cover it.
The Mariners are still third in the AL West, now 4.5 games behind the division lead and 4.0 back of the final wild card spot. With 42 games left, the math is still there. The feel of it is another matter.
For most of the night, Woo was the reason Seattle had any real hope at all. He turned in his best road outing of the season, working 5.0 scoreless innings with three hits, one walk and five strikeouts. It looked much more like the version of Woo who posted a 3.29 ERA on the road two years ago and a 3.40 mark last year than the pitcher who has struggled to a 6.71 road ERA in 2026.
He wasn’t especially efficient early, though. Woo threw 71 pitches in his first three innings, which helped limit him to five frames instead of giving Seattle a chance at a deeper outing. Even so, it was a strong performance, and one the Mariners badly needed.
Jose A. Ferrer followed with a perfect sixth, but the seventh inning brought the kind of collapse Seattle has seen too often this season.
Michael Rucker entered and couldn’t get out of the inning in any kind of clean fashion, lasting just one out while giving up three hits, a walk and four earned runs. It was one of his roughest outings of the year, and it turned a tight game into a lopsided one in a hurry.
The offense didn’t give the pitching staff much room to breathe. Seattle managed only three hits all night, with Randy Arozarena’s solo homer in the sixth providing the only run. Brendan Donovan and Dominic Canzone each added singles, and that was it.
That kind of production is a huge reason the Mariners are sitting last in the majors in runs per game. The talent on the roster has never been in question, especially after the trade deadline addition of Taylor Ward, but the results keep telling the real story.
Cal Raleigh’s season has become a symbol of that struggle. After a record-breaking, AL MVP-worthy 2025, he has been mired in the worst year of his career. On Tuesday he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and later took responsibility for the team’s offensive issues in an impromptu interview.
Asked about the pressure Raleigh puts on himself to do better, Woo said:
“Yeah, he takes it as hard as anybody. We all do, but you’ve got to just kind of continue to remind him that he doesn’t have to carry the whole ship by himself.
You’ve got 25 other guys trying to pull the rope and try to figure this thing out. I think when you’re high performing people, sometimes they want to take all of that and try to put it on themselves, figure it out for themselves.
But you’ve got to remind them that it’s a team game regardless. You win as a team, you lose as a team.
He’s not the only one that has been struggling this year, hasn’t gone the way that he wants it to go. So just remember that we’re all in it together.”
The Mariners are 56-64 through 120 games, and the question now is less about talent than belief. Woo said the group still has to keep leaning into that idea.
“Yeah, it’s been tough. You never want to be not playing your best baseball at this time of year.
But I think it’s the right mentality (to remain positive). You know you have an opportunity.
You have games in front of you, you just can’t give up. You’ve got to keep fighting and you’ve got to keep believing in the possibility and believe in the guys next to you.
Believe in the locker room, believe in the group, because we’ve got the people. We’ve got the players, we’ve got the character in that room (which) is really high.
So just continue to believe and keep fighting.”
That mindset is about all Seattle has left to cling to right now. Woo looked like a pitcher rediscovering his road form, but the Mariners still need much more than one strong start.
They need the bullpen to hold, the bats to wake up, and the season to start bending in a different direction. For now, the only real next step is the next game, Wednesday night in The Bronx.
In Other News...
Cal Raleigh Just Sparked A Bigger Mariners Blame Debate
Cal Raleigh didnt try to pass the buck after another rough stretch for the Mariners. Instead, the catcher owned his own performance, acknowledged the offense has fallen short and suggested the group needs to make some adjustments in how it is going about its business. In a season where the lineup has too often stalled, that kind of blunt self-assessment stands out because it comes with a clear message about where the accountability starts.
Raleigh also drew a line around the larger conversation, defending the front office and coaching staff while saying the players are the ones responsible for the teams current problems. For a Mariners club already dealing with bigger questions about roster construction and decision-making, his comments sharpen an old debate rather than settle it. The tension now is whether that internal message sparks a real change in approach, or simply adds another layer to the pressure surrounding a team that still has to prove it can turn frustration into results. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Pressure Is Rising Around Dan Wilson And His Staff
The Angels latest round of coaching changes offered a familiar reminder of how quickly a season can turn into a referendum on the people in the dugout. After poor results piled up, Los Angeles moved on from pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Dom Chiti and assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott, and the explanation included concern that the staff was not making enough use of available technology. It was another example of an organization deciding the message had to change when the performance did not.
For the Mariners, that kind of shakeup is only going to sharpen the attention already circling Dan Wilson and his staff. Seattles struggles have put Wilson under scrutiny, and the hitting side has not escaped it, with Edgar Martinez and Kevin Seitzer part of the conversation as the club looks for answers. Other teams, including the Phillies and Red Sox, have already shown how quickly front offices will redraw the map when results lag, and that is the backdrop hanging over Seattle now. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Add Catching Insurance Behind Cal Raleigh
The Mariners added a little catching depth to the organization this week, claiming Willie MacIver off waivers from the Blue Jays and sending him to Triple-A Tacoma. It is a straightforward move on the surface, but one that fits the kind of roster housekeeping contending clubs often do when they want to keep the position insulated without forcing a bigger shuffle at the major league level.
MacIver gives Seattle another name to stash in the system behind Cal Raleigh and the rest of the current catching group, with the club having room on its 40-man roster to make the claim. The Blue Jays had just designated MacIver for assignment after picking him up from the Rangers, so the Mariners were able to jump in and add an experienced depth option while leaving the bigger question of how far he might climb in the organization for later. [Read more 🡒]