Bryan Woo Fares Better in Second Major League Appearance
6/10/2023 10:06:00 PM | Baseball
Howard became the sixth former Mustang to play in a Major League game this season, eclipsing the mark of five set in 2015 when Brent Morel, Bud Norris, Logan Schafer, Kevin Correia and Casey Fien all played in the Majors.
Howard made his Major League debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2020 and pitched for the Phillies and Rangers in 2021. After pitching in 10 games with eight starts for the Rangers in 2022, his 2023 season was delayed at the start with an oblique strain on his right side, an injury that occurred in spring training and resulted in him being placed on the 60-day Injured List.
Howard became eligible to play last Monday after a pair of successful rehab stints at Round Rock. To make room on the 40-man roster, Texas moved Jacob deGrom to the 60-day Injured List. Howard allowed no runs or hits over 3 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts in his two mound appearances with the Express.
A graduate of Templeton High School, Howard made the Rangers' Opening Day roster last season but only made eight starts and pitched in 10 games total, going 2-4 with a 7.41 ERA.
Cal Poly's other five Major Leaguers this season are outfielder Mitch Haniger with the San Francisco Giants, utility player Mark Mathias with the Pittsburgh Pirates and pitchers Erich Uelmen with the Philadelphia Phillies, Justin Bruihl with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Bryan Woo with the Seattle Mariners.
Last week, Woo became the 22nd former Cal Poly player to compete in a Major League uniform, drawing a start against the Rangers at Globe Life Field. He surrendered three runs in both the first and second innings but struck out five in the two-inning stint.
The Mariners gave him a second chance Saturday at Angel Stadium and Woo fared much better, allowing only a two-run home run to Shohei Ohtani in the third inning before he was relieved one out shy of being eligible for his first MLB victory. Seattle was leading 5-2 with two outs in the fifth when Los Angeles had runners at second and third and Ohtani at the plate again.
Manager Scott Servais elected to lift Woo at that point and reliever Gabe Speier induced Ohtani to take a called third strike to end the inning.
Woo struck out seven and walked one, scattering four hits over 4 2/3 innings, and lowering his ERA from 27.00 to 10.80. Seattle went on to win the game, 6-2.
"Last time was a challenge,'' Servais said before the game of Woo's first start in Texas, a 16-6 loss. "It was his first major league outing. They jumped on him quickly, two pitches into the game and one run was across and the other guy was already on base. So I'd like to see him settle in. A young guy who's got really good stuff, a good competitor. It just got going a little fast for him last time. So hopefully he gets off to a better start this time and we play good defense behind him and give him a chance to win a ballgame.
"Nice step forward,'' Servais added after the game. "That's what he can do. He's still young; he's still learning. But a nice bounce back outing from him.''
Woo's strikeout of Trout on five pitches to end the third inning showed the kind of competitiveness Servais said before the game he expected Woo to show this time around.
"A lot of it was making my adjustments from the last outing,'' Woo said. "Learning from it, building off of it. A really good step in the right direction.''
