Mu?oz bests J-Ram in epic 'cat-and-mouse game'
Daniel Kramer
@DKramer_SEATTLE -- The better at-bats to watch in Major League Baseball are those pitting the best pitchers against the best hitters. It¡¯s an objective, albeit obvious, take.
But the best at-bats in the Majors are those in which the opponents deliver on those high-stakes showdowns and the audience comes away appreciating both sides even more than they already did, regardless of the outcome of the battle.
Such was the scene in sun-soaked Seattle on Thursday, when Jos¨¦ Ram¨ªrez stepped to the plate representing the go-ahead run with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. Not risking potentially fateful damage, Mariners manager Scott Servais turned to his best arm, flamethrower Andr¨¦s Mu?oz, who despite being in his first full season has emerged as one of the game¡¯s top high-leverage relievers.
For Mariners fans salivating for a playoff chase, it was grab-your-popcorn, call-your-neighbors, edge-of-your-seat material.
Over two-ish tense minutes, Mu?oz won a critical, seven-pitch strikeout against J-Ram that halted Cleveland¡¯s rally, leaving all who watched in awe. Then, Mu?oz came back for a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two more punchouts to seal a 3-1 win that began a critical four-game set between these postseason hopefuls. More on the epic matchup momentarily.
Marco Gonzales was also brilliant, overcoming some hard contact in the first inning and retiring 16 of his final 18 batters. Mitch Haniger backed him by crushing a decisive three-run homer off Triston McKenzie in the first, bringing his slash line to .313/.378/.507 (.885 OPS) since returning from the IL on Aug. 6.
If the season ended Thursday, the Mariners would visit the Guardians for the best-of-three Wild Card Series as the No. 6 and 3 playoff seeds, respectively. And given how tight Thursday¡¯s tilt was -- especially encapsulated in those Mu?oz vs. Ram¨ªrez moments -- it had the recipe of a possible postseason preview.
¡°If you want to win the games against the best teams,¡± Mariners manager Scott Servais said, ¡°you¡¯ve got to get the best hitters out at the most critical times.¡±
Mu?oz continues to show remarkable poise in big moments, with Ram¨ªrez the latest elite slugger to become a strikeout victim. Others include Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Pete Alonso, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Carlos Correa and more.
It underscores how far he¡¯s come since a May 22 outing in Boston when he surrendered a walk-off grand slam. In 35 outings since, including Thursday, he¡¯s held hitters to a .145/.201/.218 (.419 OPS) slash line and has a 1.19 ERA and 45.5% strikeout rate, MLB¡¯s second-highest to only Edwin D¨ªaz.
His season-long progression was all encapsulated in one epic duel:
? Ram¨ªrez thrives in these moments, entering play with a .959 OPS in high-leverage situations and 103 RBIs, second to only Aaron Judge. It was his time to shine, and Mu?oz quickly fell behind 2-0 on sliders outside, putting Ram¨ªrez in a hitter's count. But Mu?oz opted to stay with the breaking ball when Ram¨ªrez was thinking heater, generating a big whiff. Strike one.
? Mu?oz stuck with the slider, but Ram¨ªrez timed him up just early, yanking the pitch on the lower black into foul territory down the right-field line. Had he been a little more on time, it would¡¯ve reached the corner and easily scored two. Strike two.
? Now it was time for the 101.5 mph heater, which Mu?oz threw high and away, but Ram¨ªrez fouled it off to stay alive. Then came arguably the wildest pitch of the day, when Mu?oz back-footed a slider that Ram¨ªrez -- somehow, some way -- made contact with. Yet Mu?oz stuck with his instincts and dialed up his hardest slider yet, at 91.4 mph, and got Ram¨ªrez to swing over the top. Strike three.
¡°I¡¯m just trying to do my job and just trying to fool Ram¨ªrez, and he was just doing his job putting the ball in play,¡± Mu?oz said through an interpreter. ¡°It was just a matter of time in a cat-and-mouse game.¡±
What did the other dugout think?
¡°I saw 102 and then a slider -- that was pretty filthy stuff,¡± Guardians manager Terry Francona said. ¡°I don¡¯t think you have to be in the game 40 years to know that was pretty special stuff.¡±
The Mariners advanced to 54-2 in games in which they lead after eight innings. In another quirk, Thursday¡¯s game was the first of the season in which both teams scored in the first inning but didn¡¯t plate any the rest of the way. Mu?oz, in both contexts, was a huge reason why.
If the eighth-inning matchup was a preview of what might come in October, everyone who tuned in is in for another treat.