Commentary: Why Mariners’ Andrés Muñoz may be more than the second coming of Edwin Díaz

Andrés Muñoz has been throwing a no-hitter for more than a month.

Not that he actually noticed.

On Wednesday afternoon, I asked the Mariners’ late-inning lightning bolt about the recent stretch — which includes six walks and 12 strikeouts, without a hit or run allowed, in his past 10 1/3 innings and 10 appearances entering Thursday night’s game. In fact, Muñoz last surrendered a hit in a 7-3 win over Baltimore on the Fourth of July, with his most recent earned run coming way back on June 26.

So, how does Muñoz explain that daily dominance?

One, he was unaware of it — and not by accident.

“To be honest, I didn’t know that information,” he said with a smile. “But the thing is, for me, I don’t think about anything outside baseball and what you have to do. You just have to have the mindset all the time that you’re going to go there and do 100%, and most of the time it’s going to work. You’re going to see the results as soon as you get on the mound, and you try to do the best you can without thinking, ‘Oh, maybe this will happen.’ Don’t be afraid that something is going to happen.

“If something is going to happen, it’s going to happen anyway. You go in with the same mentality to attack the hitter.”

Since arriving in Seattle in 2020, Muñoz has been on the attack, establishing himself as a critical cog in the Mariners’ bullpen. But the 25-year-old hurler has further ascended this season, with a 1.22 ERA and 18 saves (so far) in 44 1/3 innings and 44 games entering Thursday night. Though Seattle’s starting rotation has earned the spotlight, and its underperforming offense has left little margin for error, Muñoz has been among the most invaluable Mariners.

Which is especially impressive, considering all he’s overcome.

“His back was bothering him for a while. There was the one game in Tampa where he was physically sick and he had struggles getting through that,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Those are all experiences that, as a pitcher, you learn how to cope with and deal with and get through. I think he’s learned a lot this year. I love having him out there.”

That much is obvious. Entering Thursday’s series finale with Detroit, Muñoz’s seven four- or five-out saves were most in MLB. Seattle’s unreliable relief certainly hasn’t helped, as a pair of leverage arms — Matt Brash and Gregory Santos — have missed most or all of the season because of injuries.

Moreover, Ryne Stanek and Mike Baumann both scuffled before being traded away, and Trent Thornton, Tayler Saucedo and Gabe Speier have delivered decidedly uneven results. (Seattle recently traded for a pair of relievers, Yimi Garcia and JT Chargois, to bolster the bullpen.)

As a result, Muñoz has shouldered even more of the leverage load … though perhaps not as much as many fans demand. On Wednesday, the Los Mochis, Mexico, native was warming late while the Tigers clung to a 3-2 lead. But rather than turning to Muñoz, Servais entrusted new addition Jonathan Hernández with the top of the ninth … and he promptly surrendered three earned runs in an eventual 6-2 loss.

Still, Servais’ words roughly six hours earlier underscored his strategy with Muñoz.

“Recently, coming out of the All-Star break, his stuff has been outstanding. You see the fastball velocity tick back up to what we’re normally seeing, in the 98- to 99-mph range. And he’s got a wipeout slider. We’ve got to keep a guy like that healthy,” Servais said. “He’s going to pitch a lot for us here in the remainder of the season. Any time we’ve got a lead or it’s close, he’s in the game. We lean on him very heavily.

“He’s probably got more four- and five-out saves than anyone else in the league. That’s hard to do. I don’t know if we want to do that too often, but there’s times we just need to do it. He’s been able to answer the call. We’re not in this position if it wasn’t for him and the season he’s having.”

About that position: After snapping a three-game skid with a walkoff win Thursday, the Mariners head into the weekend at 60-56, tied for first with the equally mortal Astros in a winnable AL West. This weekend, Seattle will host a three-game set against another fringe contender in the confounding New York Mets (61-54).

The series will also provide a reunion for dominant Mariner relievers past and present, as Muñoz and Edwin Díaz await opportunities to slam the door.

“I think he’s a great person,” said Muñoz, who met Díaz during the Mariners’ series in New York last September. “To be able to talk with him, and he gave me some advice even when he didn’t have to do that, that was something I really appreciated. I always saw him before, when I was in the minor leagues. So it’s really awesome to be with him again.”

Díaz, 30, earned 109 saves with a 2.64 ERA in three seasons with Seattle from 2016 to 2018. That included a franchise-record and MLB-leading 57 saves in 2018, before the Mariners dealt Díaz to the Mets. In New York, the Naguabo, Puerto Rico, native was again an All-Star in 2022, when he amassed 32 saves with a microscopic 1.31 ERA. But after missing the 2023 season because of a torn patellar tendon, he returns to Seattle with a 3.82 ERA and 14 saves in 19 opportunities.

At their best, Díaz and Muñoz succeed with a strikingly similar formula. Same high-90s fastball. Same disappearing slider. Same ability to conquer in the clutch.

But Muñoz isn’t the second coming of Edwin Díaz.

Whether he knows it or not, the Mariners’ unassuming All-Star may soon be something more.

“You could say, ‘Oh, Eddie threw 98-99 and had a wipeout slider too, so they’re the same guy.’ They really do it much differently,” Servais said. “ … With Eddie oftentimes early on, we had to dial him back, because he would get too wired and too excited and then he would lose command a little bit. [Muñoz’s] demeanor is much calmer on the outside; he’s churning on the inside.

“But I think watching Muni’s development, I’m really happy with how it’s come. And we’ve asked a lot of him this year. To get through all the different things we’ve thrown at him and still have enough gas in the tank — like he does, in my opinion — with 40-50 games to go, I think he’s in a really good spot.”