SEATTLE -- A multi-homer game from Cal Raleigh and a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning for Andrés Muñoz has been as automatic a formula to victory for the Mariners as anyone in baseball has had all season.
But things drastically turned for the worse on Friday night in a 12-6 extra-innings loss that also saw Seattle stripped of sole possession of first place in the American League West for the first time since April 27.
Muñoz surrendered his first earned runs of the season -- in snowball fashion and all with two outs.
The 2024 All-Star gave up a two-run homer to Willi Castro that scored old friend Ty France, who led off with a leadoff single before Muñoz recorded consecutive strikeouts. Then an RBI single to Trevor Larnach scored Byron Buxton to tie things up.
The floodgates opened in the 10th, when Casey Legumina gave up six more runs (five earned).
In total, the Mariners’ bullpen surrendered nine unanswered runs, one day after Collin Snider was on the hook for seven runs in the 10th inning that broke a 2-2 tie and led to a 9-3 loss. With it, the Mariners became the sixth team in the divisional era (since 1969) to give up six or more runs in an extra inning -- and the first to do so on consecutive nights.
“He's a seasoned closer, and he's been through this before,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of Muñoz. “So I think he is more well equipped and will probably be able to move on from it very quickly, as our guys will. Again, they are resilient. We've seen that time and time again.”
Muñoz had only surrendered two unearned runs all season, carrying a 0.00 ERA with an MLB-best 17 saves in his first 24 outings. Moreover, the Mariners were 25-0 when leading after the eighth.
There was no way that unscathed line would last, but the totality of Friday night’s blown save -- and the fact that the Astros won for the fifth time in six games to surpass the Mariners in the standings -- made his first hiccup sting that much more.
“He's been unbelievable for the first however many games it's been,” said Bryan Woo, who came one out shy of clearing the seventh inning, when he gave up a solo homer to his final batter, also Castro.
“Stuff happens. You get beat. But he's still the best closer in the world, and I think everybody in the clubhouse believes in him. And we'll be right there to tell him that, pick him up and get him the ball again.”
The Mariners had also been 13-0 over Raleigh’s career when the backstop homered twice in a game, and appeared to be on their way to keeping that undefeated streak intact.
Raleigh blasted a three-run shot as part of a four-spot in the first inning, then he punctuated the night by going deep against his former teammate at Florida State, Cole Sands, with a two-run shot in the eighth -- moments before Muñoz entered.
“Big Dumper” made more history in the process, becoming the first catcher in history to club at least 20 homers before the end of May. And he joined Ken Griffey Jr. (1994, 1997, 1999) and Alex Rodriguez (1998) as the only players to do so in franchise history.
Raleigh now has 21 homers on the season, pulling ahead of Aaron Judge for the American League lead and trailing only Shohei Ohtani for tops in the Majors. Both sluggers also homered on Friday night in a highly anticipated World Series rematch at Dodger Stadium.