Mariners' 'what if?' moments extend to the final pitch

SEATTLE -- For the second straight game at T-Mobile Park, Julio Rodríguez stepped to the plate with the chance to send Seattle into a walk-off frenzy. But unlike in the All-Star Game on Tuesday, when he worked a walk and passed the baton to keep the rally alive, Rodríguez froze for strike three against a curveball middle-in.

It was the final bow on a Friday night full of run-scoring opportunities in which the Mariners came away empty handed, leading to a 5-4 loss to the Tigers.

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“Not the way we were hoping to get the homestand started tonight,” manager Scott Servais said.

Maybe if Ty France hadn’t been ejected in the fifth inning, he would’ve been at first base to handle a throw that instead turned into an error by his replacement, Dylan Moore, and contributed to Detroit’s final runs.

Maybe if AJ Pollock had raced home from third base on the at-bat before France exited, Seattle would’ve tied the game and France’s inning-ending strikeout wouldn’t have loomed as large.

Maybe if any one of the Mariners’ seven -- yes, seven -- fly balls to the warning track had cleared the fence, they would’ve been playing ahead throughout the night instead of behind from the get-go after Luis Castillo’s early innings challenges continued.

But in the Major League, results-based world of absolutes, with the crowd riding the wave of an epic All-Star Week in Seattle, the first contest at T-Mobile Park since the Midsummer Classic featured some of the familiar frustrations that headlined the Mariners’ first half.

Before France was ejected, the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, a sequence that’s been all too familiar, headlined by a scoreless showing in an identical situation last Saturday in Houston. But they were able to cash in two when Moore lined one off the top of the left-field wall.

In business but still trailing, 3-2, Seattle had the chance to tie the game on a groundout from J.P. Crawford, who nearly ripped one through the right-side hole with the infield in but was the victim of an impressive diving stop from Nick Maton.

As the Tigers’ second baseman dove to his left, Pollock held at third while Maton threw out Crawford by one pace from his knees. Any throw to the plate would’ve necessitated Maton make a cross-body throw from the ground.

“It's a curious play,” Servais said. “You've got a situation with Julio and Ty coming up next. Do you go contact there with where you're at? It was a tough read. We had other chances in the game, as well, to get to the game tied up and get in front of it, but we just weren't able to get it done.”

The Mariners had another rally in the eighth, when Jarred Kelenic’s 107.4 mph liner in the gap allowed Rodríguez to score from first on a bang-bang play at the plate that manifested after an umpire review due to the Mariners losing their challenge earlier.

Rodríguez went first-to-home in 11.62 seconds, per Statcast, by far his slowest among any of his such tracked runs. He was examined by athletic trainers after the play but remained in the game. Kelenic was then stranded at third base after Teoscar Hernández and Eugenio Suárez struck out.

In the ninth, Mike Ford made it a one-run game with a pinch-hit homer. Then Moore and Crawford walked to position Rodríguez for the potential walk-off before the backwards K.

“You look up, and you end up losing by a run -- and those end up being big plays in the game,” Servais said. “So again, it’s an area that we've talked a lot about. We just haven't been consistent in getting those guys in, and it'll come back to bite you.

“Those are the opportunities. It looks easy. Just hit a fly ball, just do that. But having good at-bats, right there are things that we struggled with.”

No, it wasn’t as stinging as two Fridays ago, when boos rained down after an eighth-inning implosion, or a few days before that, when the Mariners had the chance to walk off with the bases loaded and no outs against last-place Washington.

And after three straight series wins against contenders Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Houston, the stakes aren’t as high. But it also had many of the familiar -- and frustrating -- ingredients that defined their first half.