Two sliders. Three outs. Twenty-one saves.
Andrés Muñoz walked into Yankee Stadium on August 13, worked a clean 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts, and sealed a 1-0 Seattle Mariners win over New York — ending a six-game losing streak in the process. It was save No. 21 of the 2026 season for the closer from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and it made it official: three consecutive seasons with 20 or more saves.
The Setup Was Perfect
Seattle came in carrying some real baggage. Six straight losses, including a 10-5 beatdown by these same Yankees the night before. Logan Gilbert gave the team a lifeline: six scoreless innings, four hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. The bullpen handled the seventh and eighth. Then Muñoz shut the door.
The only run of the game had come in the second inning, when Weston Wilson hit a solo home run off Max Fried. That was all Seattle needed — and all Muñoz needed to protect.
The Slider Nobody Can Figure Out
In 2025, Muñoz’s slider posted a 51% whiff rate — second-best in all of MLB — and opponents hit just .109 against it. That means hitters almost never make contact, and when they do, they almost never get a hit. On Wednesday night in the Bronx, it was business as usual.
Through 45 appearances in 2026, Muñoz carries a 3.80 ERA across 42.2 innings, with 67 strikeouts and 17 walks. It hasn’t been a spotless year — he’s blown six saves already, one fewer than he had all of 2025 — but the slider remains elite, and moments like this one are a reminder of why Seattle’s bullpen is built around him.
The MLB broadcast flagged it during the game: three straight seasons with 20+ saves. That’s not a talking point. That’s a track record.
A 1-0 Win the Franchise Hadn’t Seen Since Félix
There was one more layer to this win. It was the first time the Mariners had won a game 1-0 at Yankee Stadium since August 4, 2012 — when Félix Hernández threw a two-hit gem in the Bronx. Fourteen years later, Seattle got the job done again, this time spread across Gilbert, the bullpen, and Muñoz.
The Mariners improved to 57-65 and sit five games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West. It’s a steep climb. But for one night, they stopped the bleeding — and Muñoz’s slider was the reason why.
