Woo rebounds against Halos after shaky debut

ANAHEIM -- Bryan Woo stood outside the visitors’ clubhouse at Angel Stadium anchoring the line of high-fives as the Mariners receded from the field after a 6-2 win on Saturday, standing front and center among a cadre of pitchers greeting position players and coaches.

“Woo!” shouted Julio Rodríguez, who was also a key vessel in the victory. The star center fielder was followed by J.P. Crawford, another established big leaguer, who slapped hands with the rookie starting pitcher. One after another, veterans approached the righty to ensure Woo felt validated for his rebound from a shaky debut last weekend in Texas.

“It was nice to have some days to kind of settle in, get to meet everybody and get going with a nice schedule this week,” Woo said.

Woo struck out seven, issued just one walk and allowed just four hits, the lone blemish of his two-run outing being a 400-foot homer to Shohei Ohtani on an inside slider. Other than that, Woo looked much more the part as Seattle’s No. 6 prospect by MLB Pipeline, with huge upside compared to the six-run showing in his MLB debut June 3.

“Making sure to keep competing, trusting it,” Woo said of his turnaround, crediting pitching coach Pete Woodworth with sound guidance throughout the week. “Whether it’s in the zone or not, continuing to throw it and continuing to trust my stuff is just as big as anything else; continuing to pound the zone with it. But I’m really happy with the step forward today.”

Woo worked a 1-2-3 first inning with a pair of strikeouts and later came one out shy of completing the fifth before manager Scott Servais turned to the bullpen, which held the Angels scoreless the rest of the way. It was one batter earlier than Woo or the Mariners’ manager had intended, but a positive finish nonetheless.

“I was able to keep making pitches, try to stay in the moment, make one pitch at a time,” Woo said. “But yeah, a lot to learn from today.”

Triple-A Tacoma
Jake Scheiner continues to make a strong impression, with a team-leading 17 homers -- just four shy of his career high from last year -- to go with a slash line of .290/.394/.603 (.997 OPS) in 56 games. He also had an impressive diving play that kept the Rainiers in a game late Saturday, a contest they ultimately lost in Reno.

Double-A Arkansas
Jonatan Clase (No. 12 prospect) has seen an overall dip in production since a promotion last month, but he had a huge week that included three homers -- including his first career grand slam. The outfielder, who is better known for his speed, has slugged .582 this year between both affiliates, a whopping 100 points higher than his career mark.

Also, Emerson Hancock (No. 4) threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in a win on Tuesday, over which he allowed just four hits.

High-A Everett
Harry Ford (No. 1) had a career-high four hits on Tuesday to continue what’s been a positive June, during which he’s slashing .281/.395/.406 ( .801 OPS).

Class A Modesto
Trailing by one with the bases loaded on Saturday, Cole Young (No. 3) dug out a hanging breaking ball and ripped it to the pull side with authority for his first career walk-off.

On Friday, Michael Morales (No. 20) had arguably his best start since being taken in the third round of the 2021 MLB Draft, striking out a career-high nine over 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball. Morales has enjoyed a rebound of sorts after a tough 2022 during which he posted a 5.91 ERA and struggled to maintain his stuff. He has a 3.17 ERA in 10 starts this year, with improvement in strikeout (24.5%) and walk (7.9%) rates.