Andrés Muñoz leaves with leg injury in ninth

That doesn’t sound great. Seranthony Domínguez, who pitched a scoreless eighth in front of Muñoz today, could get some saves during the final week of the season. Eduardo Bazardo wound up with the save today for getting two outs after Muñoz departed.

Andres Muñoz started the inning and recorded one out, but also gave up a solo home run and left the game with a trainer. Bazardo then issued a walk but recorded two strikeouts while throwing just 50 percent of his pitches for strikes and securing his first save of the season. It would likely be Seranthony Domínguez who closes if Muñoz misses time.

Muñoz allowed a leadoff single to Cole Carrigg to begin the ninth inning. Carrigg would steal second base three pitches later to move into scoring position for Kyle Karros, who would go down on strikes. Muñoz would then pick off Carrigg, who was attempting to steal third, before retiring Mickey Moniak on strikes to end the game. It was the 28th save of the season for Muñoz, who is 4-for-5 in save opportunities this month.

Muñoz was forced into the game in the eighth today with one out and the tying run on third, and he stranded the runner by getting a strikeout and a popup. However, in the ninth, he gave up a single and a homer to the first two batters he faced, ending the game. It’s his 10th blown save and sixth loss, though he’s been quite good for three months now. He’ll certainly remain in the closer’s role for Seattle.

It hasn’t been easy for Muñoz this season, and this outing was no different. He allowed a pair of two-out walks to Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter that put the tying run in scoring position but was able to get Jake Burger to ground into a fielder’s choice to end it. The 27-year-old righty now sports a 3.98 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and an 85/23 K/BB ratio over 54 1/3 innings on the season.

The save was his 26th of the season. Muñoz recorded K-BB% figures in the low 20s over the past three years, but he’s right below 30% in 2026. Despite that, his ERA is over 4 due to a career-worst HR/9 and an outlier left-on-base rate. For comparison, he has a 2.85 FIP and a 2.13 xFIP, suggesting positive regression is headed his way next year.

The save was Muñoz’s 102nd for Seattle, moving him past J.J. Putz and alone into third place in Mariners’ history. He should overtake both Edwin Díaz (109) and Kazuhiro Sasaki (129) by the end of 2027.

The Mariners certainly weren’t intending to use Muñoz after taking a 9-4 lead into the ninth, but the Red Sox scored twice to force them to make the move. Muñoz got four outs in Monday’s loss, and working two straight days probably takes him out of play for Wednesday, even if he only threw four pitches tonight. Then again, while the Mariners haven’t used him three straight days this year, they did do it once last September; it’s something they’d only consider when they’re as desperate as they are right now.

Asked for a rare four-out save in a one-run game, Muñoz struck out Connor Wong after coming on with a man on second in the eighth. The ninth started with a Roman Anthony liner to center that Julio Rodríguez tried a diving attempt on, turning what should have been a single into a triple, and the Red Sox went on to tie the game on a sac fly. It goes as Muñoz’s ninth blown save, but he probably would have converted this one if not for Rodríguez’s bad decision.

Muñoz was summoned with a three-run lead in the top of the ninth to close out the game against the Phillies. He worked around a pair of walks, striking out two batters to lock down the save. It was a nice bounce-back outing after giving up a homer to blow his last save chance. The 27-year-old right-hander is up to 24 saves with a 4.28 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and a 77/20 K/BB ratio across 48 1/3 innings.