Bryan Woo's caution pays off in best-case scenario injury update for Mariners

Bryan Woo chose not to push his body any further than absolutely necessary on Friday, and the Seattle Mariners have every reason to be grateful for that on Saturday.

Woo gave everyone a scare when he left Friday's 4-0 win over the Houston Astros after five innings of work. He was clearly uncomfortable doing his warmup tosses, drawing a visit from manager Dan Wilson and head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson.

And yet, everyone's worst fears were warded off when Wilson said after the game that Woo had merely experienced "a little pec tightness." The news only got better on Saturday, with Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reporting that Woo is day-to-day with minor inflammation in his right pectoral:

Adam Jude, also of the Seattle Times, added that the team will need 24-48 hours to determine whether Woo will need to go in the injured list. It will depend on how he responds to treatment, per Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports.

Mariners should be grateful Bryan Woo didn't try to pitch through his injury

"Day-to-day" is perhaps the most beautiful phrase in the language of injury updates, and especially in this case. Woo's early exit didn't cost the Mariners the game on Friday, and they can move forward with real hopes that he'll be just fine for the remainder of the regular season and [knock wood] the playoffs.

Before his pec tightened up on him on Friday, the 25-year-old righty had been enjoying yet another dominant start. Through five innings, he had held the Astros scoreless on one hit and one walk with seven strikeouts. The velocity on all his pitches was up across the board.

Whether that had anything to do with Woo's injury, we can only speculate. What we do know, however, is that he wisely did not try to pitch through the tightness after he first started to feel it in the bottom of the fifth.

“I felt great all game,” Woo said, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. “I just felt it at the end. And yeah, I thought that was just smart to not try to push it.”

Woo also added: "I tried to come out and throw that sixth and didn't feel like it was best for the team."

In making that call, Woo potentially saved himself from an even worse injury. That would have been a devastating blow to the Mariners, who conceivably could have lost their ace — Woo is working on a 2.94 ERA over 186.2 innings — for both the remainder of the season and what they hope will be a deep playoff run.

That Woo spoke up about his injury before going out for his warmup tosses was key. It allowed Wilson to get Eduard Bazardo up in the bullpen, and he and Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz took it from there with four scoreless innings to finish off the shutout.

Woo's next start is tentatively slated for Thursday in Seattle against the Colorado Rockies. But with an off day on Monday, the Mariners might bump him back so he can get as much rest as possible.

With the Detroit Tigers having already lost, a win for the Mariners in Game 2 of the series would put them 2.0 games up on the Astros in the AL West and give them sole possession of the No. 2 seed in the AL playoff field. With seven games left to go, they would be in an enviable position.

For now, it's good enough that they avoided a nightmare.