Mariners fall back in Wild Card chase with 'L'

For the second consecutive night, the Mariners dropped a ballgame that they have proven to be able to win this season.

But after seeing an early five-run lead disappear, Seattle dropped another game to Kansas City in an 8-7 loss in 12 innings on Friday night. The Mariners came into the contest with a .606 winning percentage (40-26) in games decided by two runs or fewer, which was third-best in the Majors in such games, behind the Yankees (.676) and Giants (.612).

"We're used to winning those games,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We usually find a way, and tonight we just couldn't get it done."

Friday’s frustrating loss followed a similar script to Thursday's series-opening defeat to the Royals: Seattle got out to an early lead, Salvador Perez hit a grand slam in the middle innings and the Mariners offense couldn’t regain its rhythm.

The early blow on Friday came in the fourth inning after starter Logan Gilbert gave up a game-tying grand slam to Perez, turning a four-run lead on its head and all but zapping the early momentum the Mariners had put together.

In the 12th inning, it was a two-run homer from young outfielder Edward Olivares off right-hander Yohan Ramirez that was just out of the reach of a leaping Jake Fraley that sealed Seattle's fate, relegating a once-promising game to the loss column -- and, most importantly, dropping the Mariners to 4 1/2 games back of the Red Sox for the second AL Wild Card spot. The Mariners also missed a chance to tie Oakland in that same chase, remaining one game behind the A's.

Seattle has sputtered thus far vs. Kansas City, after coming into the series 7-3 in its last 10 games and sweeping a two-game road series against the A’s earlier in the week.

Servais said the Mariners' inability to get big breaks like Fraley’s near game-saving catch have hurt them these past two nights.

"You're going to come up against stretches [where] it's three or four days [and] everything's kind of falling your way,” he said. “You're getting a few breaks and then it flips on you. A game of inches. [Olivares] gets a two-run homer off of our left fielder's glove at the fence. We have made that play. It's not an easy play, but we have made that play this year to save you in games.”

Friday's early lead evaporated when Perez got a hold of a pitch.

A day prior, Joe Smith gave up a go-ahead slam to Perez in the sixth inning. The consecutive days with grand slams made Perez the first player to hit grand slams in consecutive days against the Mariners, per Elias Sports Bureau.

"[Perez is] very aggressive, so you've got to make pitches,” Servais said. “If you really leave anything in the strike zone as hot as he's going right now, he gets a good swing on it. Certainly he took a slider from Logan out of the ballpark to right-center field. Not easy to do. He's got big power. He's having a great year. But you talk about it. You don't want to let that guy beat you, and the last couple nights he's gotten us."

Once Seattle’s lead disappeared, the offense struggled to find a groove before reaching extra innings. The Mariners struggled to figure out Royals reliever Carlos Hernández after he came in to relieve Kris Bubic with one out in the fifth, the right-hander retiring the first 14 batters he faced and not having to work around a baserunner until the automatic runner in the 10th inning.

The Mariners held hitless against Hernández up until the 10th when Abraham Toro singled to lead off the frame, but they were unable to push across enough in extras to earn the victory.

“I thought offensively we came out swinging the bats really good,” Servais said. “[We] put the five runs up there and then they really flipped the game on us when they brought in Hernández, who was supposed to be tomorrow's starter. He did just absolutely slam the door on us. We didn't do anything against him. He had really good stuff.”