Seattle Mariners Reliever Leading League in Amazing Category
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners earned a much-needed win on Thursday: a 3-2 victory against the New York Yankees.
The Mariners put up all three of their runs in the first inning and starting pitcher Logan Gilbert went 5.1 innings and struck out nine to help Seattle preserve its early lead.
The Marines' All-Star reliever Andres Munoz entered the game in the ninth inning and struck out the side in order. Munoz fanned all three batters swinging and earned his 22nd save of the season in the process.
Even with Munoz facing the minimum, he continued to increase his lead over the rest of the league in a very specific but also very impressive category.
Munoz's final pitch on Thursday was a swinging strike on a slider that sat down Gleyber Torres.
According to a pregame ROOT Sports broadcast on Friday, that was Munoz's 405th swing-and-miss on a slider since 2022.
That's the most swing-and-misses generated by a reliever on a single pitch since 2022 according to the broadcast.
And it's a good amount more than the next-closest relievers to Munoz in that category.
Jose Abreu (Houston Astros) has 379 swings-and-misses in that same span on his slider. Tanner Scott (San Diego Padres) has 367 whiffs on his slider and Josh Hader (Houston) has 344 swings-and-misses on his sinker — all according to the ROOT Sports broadcast on Friday.
Munoz is nearing the end of a career-best season. On top of his All-Star selection, he entered Friday with his best single-season ERA (2.03) and the most strikeouts in his career (74). His 22 saves are also a career-high.
Andrés Muñoz, K'ing the Side in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/KZsAwlyV3u
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 19, 2024
Munoz has been the crown jewel of a bullpen that has multiple other gems like impressive rookie Troy Taylor and Collin Snider, who's also having a career-best season.
The bullpen will only get better next season when Gregory Santos and Matt Brash both return healthy. And Munoz will likely continue to be at the forefront of it.
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