The most tension in today’s game had very little to do with the score. At 5.2 innings pitched, Bryan Woo had loaded the bases and was sitting on 99 pitches. Could he keep the streak alive?
To get to that point, Woo had to recover from a shaky first few innings. The Mets were fully prepared for Woo’s tendency to be in the zone all the time, pouncing on his fastballs. Even with Woo sitting at 97 today, the Mets hit six balls with exit velocities over 100 mph in just the first three innings. Combined with fouling off a ton of pitches, they worked Woo’s pitch count up quickly, though Woo was able wiggle out of a couple jams, allowing just one run on an RBI double off the bat of Francisco Lindor. But quick innings in the fourth and fifth let him enter the sixth with about 15 pitches left to work with before his day would be over. He got two quick outs, but then gave up a pair of singles and a walk to get to 99 pitches.
With the bases loaded and a 1-0 score, a shot of Dan Wilson in the dugout portrayed a man who was very much considering pulling Woo, whose career high is 103 pitches. But he left him in. Into the box stepped Ronny Mauricio, and Woo started him off with a fastball right on the top rail. The drama was high but dissipated quickly as Mauricio popped up the second pitch and ended the inning. That makes Woo the first pitcher in ten years to start a season with 24 consecutive starts of at least six innings. The last pitcher to start a season with 24 consecutive starts of at least six innings who also never walked more than two batters in a game? That’d be Cy Young in 1905.
Of course, even with wiggling out of jams three times over those six innings, Woo left with the Mariners trailing 1-0. That’s because facing Nolan McLean in his MLB debut, the Mariners bats were the consummate Milton Men, neither seen nor heard. Racking up just a pair of hits against McLean, even when they reached base, they did so silently, by working four walks. McLean dominated the Mariners with elite spin on his breaking balls. It was truly one-of-one stuff, as in 3279 rpm on his curveball, which is not even his best pitch. Cal Raleigh was the only one able to get to him, accruing one of those two hits and two of those four walks, which he added onto by also stealing a base and getting another hit later in the game. Beyond that, the Mariners bats had nothing today.
And because Woo left with the Mariners trailing, it meant the B-side of the bullpen would come in behind him, and they surrendered another pair of runs. It would have been three runs except that Randy Arozarena nailed Lindor at the plate, which earns Randy today’s Sun Hat Award for making a noteworthy individual contribution to a game.
It turns out, to my astonishment, that that’s the 100th Sun Hat Award. Looking at the record book, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez are tied at the top with ten each, which feels correct. Gabe Speier’s four either (a) highlights that the award is entirely based on my personal discretion or else (b) stands as a testament to his chronic underratedness. His counterpart is Paul Sewald, who probably deserved more than the one he got during his tenure. Naturally, my favorite Sun Hat Award was when I gave it to you, the reader the night after the Mariners broke the drought. The most dubious has to be Cooper Hummel’s win in a 2023 Cactus League game. Turns out that winning a Sun Hat Award in Spring Training is a huge red flag for what’s to come that season for a player, all the way from the very first Sun Hat Award, which went to Jarred Kelenic in March of 2022 (apparently for showing maturity at the plate? Actually, maybe that’s the most dubious.). He’s joined in other Spring Training games by Sergio Romo in 2022, Hummel in 2023, Ty France, Emerson Hancock, and Mitch Haniger in 2024, and Donovan Solano in 2025. Yikes. The least dubious, which is to say the most well-deserved Sun Hat Award has to be from that time earlier this year when Jorge Polanco successfully pulled off a spin move. The most surprising to me is that I somehow gave one to Jesse Winker even though I did not enjoy him as a personality and hated watching him play. I did like writing that recap though. And I apologize for the digression, but I did want to use the milestone to take a moment to reflect and also to note what a pleasure it has been to be a part of this community for so long. Thank you all, and thanks especially to Kate. I’d go on, but my last recap was already pretty sappy, so I’ll leave it at that.
At any rate, despite the defensive highlight, Randy would go on to be one of six batters retired by Edwin Díaz, interrupted only by a missile into the left-field bleachers from Eugenio Suárez. The home run never felt like the start of a comeback, even against the currently flailing Mets. But we can at least be glad that Díaz will probably be down for tomorrow’s rubber match when the Mariners have a chance to take the series at the Little League Classic.