Mariners' offensive issues continue: 'It's our job to turn the tide'

TORONTO -- The Mariners had a few bright spots at the plate and in the field on Friday night, but they were outweighed by their shortcomings in those same areas in a 3-2 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

The offensive fireworks the Mariners rode to a historic comeback the last time they played in Toronto -- including the seven-run swing in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series that eliminated the Blue Jays -- were a distant memory on a night in which Seattle had six hits, but went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven baserunners.

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The visitors entered the night hitting .194/.279/.316 in the seventh inning or later for a .594 OPS that ranked fourth-worst in baseball. Then they went 0-for-9 from the seventh on Friday. That’s more magnified with just two runs total against a Toronto lineup that’s among MLB’s best, on the heels of their second shutout of the year the night prior and after blowing a lead in the eighth inning the day before that.

“It's our job to kind of turn the tide and kind of make our own luck,” said Cal Raleigh, who crushed a carbon copy of his Wild Card Series homer off Alek Manoah in his first at-bat before adding an RBI single in his second. “We can't wait for it or wait around for it to happen.”

This current tide has made the Mariners go from being one of the most effective teams late in games to one of the worst. Friday marked their eighth loss in 11 one-run games, breaking a tie they held with Cincinnati and Cleveland as the most such defeats in MLB this year.

They’re also now on their fourth three-game losing streak this season, a skid that the club experienced seven times last year and just twice after the All-Star break, when it truly hit its stride.

“Like I've often said, you've got to hit on the road,” manager Scott Servais said. “To win on the road, you've got to hit on the road, and we've struggled here the last couple of days getting big hits.”

Toronto also made a critical adjustment against Luis Castillo after going scoreless against him during his epic performance in Game 1 last October, specifically hunting his fastball on Friday.

Castillo surrendered a 401-foot homer to Alejandro Kirk in the second, his first home run allowed all season, then he yielded a 111.9 mph RBI double to a red-hot Matt Chapman, who probably is the only player with the upper hand on Jarred Kelenic for AL Player of the Month honors for April. Both were in hitters' counts.

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Nine of the 17 balls put in play against Castillo were hit harder than 100 mph, by far his most in any start since he joined the Mariners last July. Yet he grinded through five innings and, in the words of Servais, “did his job.”

Toronto has won eight of 10 at home this season and entered Friday averaging 5.1 runs per game in those contests.

“What I saw was that they were attacking the ball,” Castillo said through an interpreter. “Lucky for me, we were able to battle up when I was on the mound. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result that we wanted, which was the victory.”

There was also the lack of defensive execution at times. The run-scoring plays that tied the game and gave the Blue Jays the lead were a result of that.

The first was a 77.8 mph relay throw to the plate from second baseman Kolten Wong that bounced twice and allowed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to score from first on Chapman’s knock. The second was when reliever Trevor Gott made a low throw on a 1-4-3 double-play attempt that would’ve ended the sixth. Instead, Gott hit No. 9 hitter Kevin Kiermaier and saw the lineup flip to George Springer, who ripped the go-ahead RBI single. These moments came one day after Julio Rodríguez missed the cutoff man to allow the only run in a 1-0 loss in Philadelphia.

To be sure, these sequences haven’t been egregious, but they’ve loomed larger with a lineup that, nearly one month into the season, has struggled with consistency -- especially in leverage moments.

“We play so many close games,” Servais said. “We’ve done it the last three or four years. We’re used to coming through in those spots, and it hasn't happened yet. It will.”

The Mariners were a slow-starting team last year, too, suggesting their experience could help them this time. But they also haven’t exhibited some of their most trademark qualities early in 2023.