Bryan Woo thinks less of himself, strikes out 9 in series win over Atlanta

May 6, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo (22) reacts in the sixth inning against the Atlanta Braves at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images Bryan Woo sat in the Mariners media room a week ago, adrift. Normally thoughtful, eloquent, and precise in postgame interviews, Woo’s responses were disjointed, starting sentences and trailing off, as he searched for answers to questions posed by the media about his back-to-back rough starts – answers he didn’t have.

The last thing he said, transcribed verbatim, was: “But…I don’t know. It’s…I got…not a ton of answers. ” Somewhere in the past week he found those answers.

It was a much different Bryan Woo who sat before the media today, fresh off a series win against the Braves, handing Atlanta their first series loss of the season. Woo pitched six innings, matching his season-high in strikeouts (nine) against Atlanta, the team that strikes out the least in the National League. He credits his performance to thinking…less.

“It’s like I was good and I wanted to be great. You try to do more, you try to be perfect, and you lose sight of what makes yourself so good. And for me, that’s simplifying and just competing…It felt like the last two starts, just trying to do too much, think too much, dive into scouting reports too much, just thinking too much, honestly.