Muñoz proves All-Star replacement potential in win over Padres

SAN DIEGO -- At this point, Andrés Muñoz won’t be an All-Star unless he’s added as a replacement. The Mariners are doing their best to lobby for the flame-throwing closer, but he’s also doing so himself on the heels of another lockdown performance in Seattle’s tense, 2-0 win over the Padres on Wednesday afternoon.

Muñoz secured his 15th save of the season and MLB-best sixth of four or more outs. The latter alone is a feat he hadn’t yet achieved until this year, which speaks to how much he’s grown from a workload and composure standpoint.

As for the All-Star Game, Logan Gilbert was the Mariners’ lone selection, and the American League relievers are the Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase, the Yankees’ Clay Holmes, Oakland’s Mason Miller and the Rangers’ Kirby Yates.

Gilbert won’t pitch in the Midsummer Classic due to his next scheduled start being Sunday in Anaheim, and without enough rest to be ready for Tuesday’s jewel event at Globe Life Field in Arlington. So at the very least, the AL will need one replacement. The Mariners are holding out hope that it’ll be Muñoz.

“Oh, that would be awesome,” Muñoz said. “Obviously I want to go. But if [it's] not for me this year, I am OK with that. But if I go, that will be a dream come true.”

Muñoz’s 2024 stats (AL ranks, min. 25 innings)

ERA: 1.45 (5th)
Saves: 15 (tied-8th)
Ks: 45 (18th)
Opponents’ OPS: .501 (10th)
WAR, per FanGraphs: 0.8 (tied-13th)

On Wednesday, Muñoz was called upon earlier than anticipated, with two outs and two on to face Jurickson Profar, himself an All-Star, after Ryne Stanek surrendered a walk to No. 9 hitter Brett Sullivan and a sharp single to Luis Arraez. He went to work exclusively with five sliders to escape the jam with an inning-ending strikeout, only to then find himself in another jam in the ninth, this one by his own doing.

Struggling to find the strike zone, Muñoz walked Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado on five pitches each before recording an out, prompting a mound visit from Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth as the potential game-winning run stepped up to the plate. Muñoz then induced a groundout from Donovan Solano, but it was soft enough to prevent Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford from igniting a double play.

From there, he zeroed in to strike out Jackson Merrill, also an All-Star, then an escape-sealing flyout, this one from David Peralta on the seventh pitch of the at-bat -- also at Crawford, who was shaded just to the left of second base.

“Obviously you don't want to wait until [the two walks] happen,” Muñoz said. “But that happened to me today, and I'm going to work on it so that doesn't happen again.”

And what about the adjustment that he made in that moment?

“Probably just the adrenaline kicks off,” Muñoz said. “So I think that is one of the things that helped me.”

Making the day sweeter was that he was pitching against the organization he grew up with, and with whom he debuted in 2019. He was acquired by the Mariners in a big Trade Deadline deal in 2020.

“Of course,” Muñoz said. “But I don't have that feeling of hating somebody or something like that. It's just the opposite of that. I felt proud to be part of that team when I came up and all the things that they taught me, all the preparation that they did to me. But it was really good to face them.”

It’s been a demanding season for Muñoz, who was among MLB’s most heavily-used relievers over the first two months while pitching through a lower back strain that forced him to exit a June 4 outing at Oakland. He avoided the injured list but has pitched in only 12 of Seattle’s 32 games since -- part of that being due to fewer save opportunities amid the offense’s struggles over the past three weeks.

“I can't say enough about the job he has done,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He definitely needs to be on the All-Star team.”

Muñoz has also come a long way from just earlier this season, when he walked the bases loaded on April 5 in Milwaukee then issued a walk-off walk. Last year, when he became the Mariners’ full-time closer -- along with Matt Brash -- after the club dealt Paul Sewald at the Trade Deadline, the ninth inning was admittedly a challenge. But that’s seemingly no longer the case.