Seattle Mariners' Bullpen Implosion Made Very Unfortunate Baseball History on Friday
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The Seattle Mariners suffered a bullpen implosion of epic proportions on Friday night in a 12-6 loss against the Minnesota Twins at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle led 6-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning before Willi Castro hit a two-run home run off Andres Munoz to make it 6-5. Byron Buxton then singled and moved to second before Trevor Larnach hit a game-tying single.
In the top of the 10th inning, the Twins scored six runs off Casey Legumina. It was the second straight night that the M's bullpen faltered in extras, as it allowed seven runs the night before in a 9-3 loss against the Washington Nationals.
Per @OptaSTATS:
The @Twins are the only MLB team in the modern era to be down by 3+ runs with 2 outs in the 9th but end up winning by 6+ runs.
The @Twins are the only MLB team in the modern era to be down by 3+ runs with 2 outs in the 9th but end up winning by 6+ runs. pic.twitter.com/PLVULerdch
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) May 31, 2025
The runs that Munoz allowed are the only earned runs he's allowed this season. The loss dropped the Mariners to 30-26 and puts them 0.5 games back in the American League West through 56 games. They led the division by 3.5 games just one week ago.
Unfortunately, it won't get any easier for Seattle on Saturday. After Munoz, Matt Brash and Carlos Vargas appeared in back-to-back games, none of them are likely available. Gabe Speier and Jackson Kowar would seem to be the high-leverage options available in the 'pen on Saturday.
Bryce Miller is making his return from the injured list and can't necessarily be counted on to go deep into the game, so the bullpen already looks like an issue heading in.
First pitch against the Twins is set for 4:15 p.m. PT.
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