There was a scare for the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night, as Andrés Muñoz came crashing to the ground attempting to make the tag on a play at the plate after throwing a wild pitch in the ninth inning. Muñoz got up quickly, but he lingered at the plate, causing catcher Cal Raleigh to look toward the dugout to indicate a trainer may be needed.
Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz exits game after collision at home plate
As Muñoz approached the mound, the trainer, manager Scott Servais and others met him there. After getting checked out briefly, those assembled on the mound stepped back and Muñoz took a warmup pitch to make sure he was OK. Rather than getting back on the mound, he headed to the dugout, where he stayed for a bit before eventually walking back up to the clubhouse.
“Muny has got a little issue going on with his lower back,” Servais said after the game. “The play at the plate didn’t help things there. He didn’t feel he was 100% so we had to go to Sauce (Tayler Saucedo).”
Muñoz has been dealing with a lower back issue the past couple of weeks but has been able to pitch through it with treatment. He may have been feeling it Tuesday night in Oakland as he appeared to stretch it a bit on the mound a couple of times in the ninth inning, and his velocity was down a tick from his yearly average when it perhaps should have been up due to not having not pitched since Friday.
