Mariners' Andres Muñoz seeks to rebound after ‘worst outing I ever had'

SAN DIEGO - Andrés Muñoz searched for the words. It wasn't an issue of speaking English instead of his native Spanish. It was trying to find the words to describe his frustration and disappointment following his implosion in Wednesday's stunning walkoff loss to the Padres.

"I need to find myself again," he said quietly.

Brought in to work the bottom of the ninth with a 6-2 lead, Muñoz couldn't get three outs.

With his mom and brother making the trip up from Mexico to watch him pitch against his former team, Muñoz was knocked out of the game with two outs after giving up three runs on four hits and a walk while leaving two more runners on base.

They weren't there very long. Jackson Merrill laced a double to left off Muñoz's replacement, Jose A. Ferrer, that scored the tying and winning runs.

Muñoz was charged with all five runs in the inning and took the loss.

"Yesterday was tough for me," he said before Thursday's series finale in San Diego. "I've been in a lot of tough situations, but yesterday was probably the worst that I ever felt. And the worst outing I ever had. I have to figure it out, figure out the way to get back on track."

Admittedly, it hasn't been working over his last three outings, which includes Friday vs. the Astros (one inning, two walks and a strikeout) and Saturday vs. the Astros (one inning, one hit, two walks). On both of those occasions, Muñoz managed to get out of serious jams without allowing a run, despite having minimal command of his pitches, particularly his slider.

While he's never been a pitcher with pinpoint command of his power stuff, this is different. He hasn't had requisite control to throw pitches out of the middle plate or close enough to the zone to have batters want to swing. His slider command, particularly in the Houston series, was nonexistent.

"I've been working a lot on that pitch, on the slider to get it back," he said. "I thought that I had it again with good movement and good location. The last three outings, it wasn't … where I want it. Obviously, even if I get out of the inning, I continue to work a lot on it, and for some reason, like yesterday, it didn't work."

Muñoz has struggled with a basic aspect of the slider.

"It's a grip thing," he said. "Normally, I had the grip and would (throw) it as hard as I can. Now I have to find that grip. It's been weird. And it's been like that since last year too. It's my best pitch. And if I don't have my best pitch, it's tough to go out there. Even if my other pitches are good, you feel like you are going out there without your best weapon."

Muñoz has talked with Trent Blank, the Mariners' director of pitching strategy, about the pitch.

"It's easy to say, 'Just grip it and throw it,' but sometimes you don't feel comfortable with that grip, and you have to look for something else," he said. "After I release it, it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel like I have the same whip, like I have with the fastball. They can see it. The know with how it starts that it's going to be a slider."

While Muñoz beat himself into a minor existential crisis as the closer, Blank was more optimistic after looking at the pitch data, believing it was a better version of the slider than in the two appearances vs. the Astros.

"He's always had variance with that pitch," Blank said. "But truthfully, I don't see maybe the same things he's seeing. It's trending up, in my opinion. Sometimes these results create a different image in your head versus what's actually happening. And we're gonna help him separate through that noise."

Muñoz is in a weird spot with his slider. He can't throw a bullpen session every other day to find his slider. He has to be available to pitch. Manager Dan Wilson has no intention of moving him out of his closing role.

"Obviously getting him back out there and getting back on the horse, so to speak, is what you want to do," Wilson said pregame. "We'll see how the situation goes tonight. But he has thrown in so many big games for us and has been so huge for us."

So, if there is a save situation, would he have any hesitation going with Muñoz?

"Only if it is in terms of rest and it's something where he feels a little off today, and we'll know after they play catch," Wilson said. "Outside of that, we feel pretty good about where he is at."

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