'We need to turn it': Mariners drop series to last-place Nats

SEATTLE -- Scott Servais sat in the home dugout at T-Mobile Park on Wednesday morning eager to turn the page from arguably the Mariners’ most brutal loss of this 2023 season. In trademark fashion following a tough defeat, particularly ahead of a day game, Seattle's manager was cordial, good-natured and even sprinkled in some light humor.

“I joked about the other day, ‘Hey, watching these college games in the College World Series and they have the offensive timeout. Last night, I just wanted to call a timeout,” Servais said, laughing. “You don't do that in the big league game. But like, just take a breath and go out and have fun again. It's a great day to play.”

Hours later, the tone changed and the metaphor seemed all too real -- but on an even grander scale. After a 4-1 defeat against the Nationals, securing a series loss to a last-place team at home, it’s hard not to draw the parallels of the Mariners needing a timeout on this entire season of ongoing struggles.

“We need to turn it,” Servais said postgame. “What's going to turn it? That's the question, right? That's the magical question. How do you get it going back in the right direction? And it's really coming in, doing your job, competing your tail off and finding a way.”

The notable moments from another disappointing defeat:

• Seattle played from behind immediately after Logan Gilbert surrendered four straight hits that led to three first-inning runs. Gilbert settled in after, giving up one run the rest of the way, but that early hill was too mountainous to climb, as the Mariners dropped to 15-26 in games when their opponent scores first.

• They were shutout for seven innings against Nationals starter Patrick Corbin, who entered the day with losses in each of his four June starts and a 6.55 ERA in that stretch. For the season, opponents entered the day with a slash line of .309/.357/.476 (.833 OPS) against the lefty. He hadn’t thrown seven scoreless innings since July 7, 2019.

• The Mariners went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, albeit with much less traffic than the first two games, to finish the series 3-for-26 in such situations.

• They avoided their fifth shutout, but not until José Caballero led off the bottom of the eighth with a 360-foot homer that narrowly cleared the left-field wall. Seattle's Nos. 1-4 hitters went 0-for-16 with six strikeouts.

• The Mariners also fell to 3-8 in rubber games, underscoring their challenge to close out best-of-three series despite a much more vocal focus of late on winning series to get back on track.

“It hasn't gained any traction at all,” said catcher Tom Murphy, who went 3-for-3 against Corbin, while the rest of the lineup went 2-for-23 against him. “We're just as frustrated as everybody. I made the comment earlier where it seems like every day you come into the park, it feels like it's do-or-die -- it really does at this point of the season, which is a grinding way to play.”

The Mariners dropped to three games under .500 (38-41) for the first time since May 2 -- the date that began a stretch of 51 games in which they’ve been either within three games under or over .500. This elongated run prompted catcher and emerging team leader Cal Raleigh to call the club’s performance “stagnant” after Tuesday’s loss, when they had a walk-off opportunity in the 10th inning with the bases loaded and no outs.

Raleigh had a scheduled off-day on Thursday with it being a day game after a night game and that he’s better hitting lefty, but he pinch-hit in the ninth and struck out.

Lefty-hitting Jarred Kelenic and designated hitter Mike Ford also had scheduled off-days against the spin specialist Corbin, but their replacements -- Dylan Moore and AJ Pollock, respectively -- were hitless. Moore is 1-for-20 since being activated from the 10-day IL on June 6, and Pollock is slashing .155/.215/.291 (.506 OPS) this season. Wednesday marked Pollock's first start since June 12.

“It's a hard thing to do, just relying on winning one-run ballgames, low-scoring games,” Murphy said. “That's a really hard way to live. It is. So it's going to take a collective team effort, and everybody in this room is capable of doing that.”

The Mariners will enjoy an off-day at home -- perhaps a timeout of sorts -- and maybe enjoying a sun-soaked, picture-perfect Pacific Northwest afternoon like the environment they played in will help. Because the American League-leading Rays arrive on Friday.