SEATTLE — Emerson Hancock found himself in one jam too many on Wednesday afternoon, and in an attempt to get the Braves to chase their way into outs, he wound up pitching behind in counts and creating too big of a hole to dig out from in a 5-2 loss at T-Mobile Park.
And with his rotation spot soon being turned back to Bryan Woo when the righty returns from the injured list, Hancock is looking to finish this stint with a strong impression.
“I think the biggest thing is just trying to give us a chance to win every time I go out there,” Hancock said when asked about the situation. “Everything else is out of my control. Just go out there, attack the zone and just try to give us a chance to win.”
Recovering from right elbow inflammation, Woo is slated to make his third rehab start for Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday, Mariners general manager Justin Hollander told the ROOT Sports telecast pregame. By that schedule, he wouldn’t be able to start Hancock’s next turn through, on Tuesday at Minnesota.
It’s likely that if Woo is ready the Mariners will wait to reinstall him when they open a homestand against Oakland next Friday on five days’ rest rather than fly him to Minnesota to start on getaway day on normal rest — especially considering that Woo has already been pitching with extended rest between rehabilitation starts.
Doing so would also allow the Mariners to re-slot their rotation and build in an extra day for the other four starters, as Seattle prepares to embark on a stretch of 30 games in 31 days beginning Friday through June 2. Woo has impressed with 11 strikeouts and just two hits allowed over 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
If that’s the case, Hancock will get at least one more opportunity to build on what’s been a strong impression, even with Wednesday’s disappointing result.
Hancock departed with two outs in the fourth inning after surrendering five runs, only one of which was earned though due to two errors, including one of his own doing.
The linescore kept the Mariners’ franchise record intact of 19 consecutive outings of two earned runs or fewer from their starters. But it doesn’t quite portray the labors that Hancock hardened when attempting to lift Seattle to only the second sweep of Atlanta since last April 21-23.
A University of Georgia graduate who grew up rooting for the Braves, Hancock said the jitters on Wednesday weren’t tied to nostalgia, but rather the potency of Atlanta’s lineup, which leads MLB in scoring since the start of 2023.
“It’s understanding kind of who you are and what pitches you need to throw,” Hancock said. “And for me, I like to be aggressive. I like to pound the zone. Early on, I felt like it was trying to go to the corners. … There’s always a balance of that.”
Hancock found himself in a jam right away — with walks to Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley — but navigated out of it with a called strikeout to Matt Olson (who led MLB in homers last year) and a swinging K to Marcell Ozuna (who entered play one homer shy of the MLB lead this year).
The second time through, Hancock again escaped, but it came after another walk to Riley to load the bases and an RBI walk to Ozuna after working into a 0-2 count. The run that scored, via Ronald Acuña Jr., was unearned after Hancock sailed a pickoff attempt toward second base into center field attempting to nab the speedster.
With his pitch count ballooning, the fourth inning proved fateful, especially after an error from Mitch Haniger turned what would’ve been the second out into two bases for Orlando Arcia. And after a groundout, Arcia scored when Acuna singled to left. Albies kept the pressure on Hancock with another knock, then Riley ended his day with a two-run triple off the right-field wall, which Haniger crashed into attempting to make a backhanded catch.
The four runs in the fourth were more than Atlanta had scored in the series’ first two games combined.
Hancock has been mostly productive since breaking camp in the rotation at the last minute. Entering Wednesday, he was riding a streak of three straight quality starts. In six outings, over which the Mariners are 3-3, Hancock has a 4.75 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 23 strikeouts and nine walks in 30 1/3 innings.
