SEATTLE -- The Rangers are winding down a season that has left them banged up and behind in the standings. The defending World Series champions are mathematically against it to play in October.

But they are not giving up, and that attitude was evident in starter Andrew Heaney’s resilient outing in the Rangers’ 7-0 loss to the Mariners on Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

Heaney gave up three runs with two outs in the first inning, and that rocky beginning ultimately told the tale for the veteran left-hander, who dropped to 5-14.

But he settled in and pitched shutout ball for the subsequent four frames. Unfortunately, the Rangers’ bats couldn’t figure out Seattle starter George Kirby, and the Mariners added on runs against the Texas bullpen.

“He threw really well,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of Heaney. “He got some men on, but he made pitches. He’s been so consistent -- five, six innings, good starts, and giving us a chance to win. It’s a tough break for him."

The “tough break” Bochy was referring to happened in the first inning. After Victor Robles’ leadoff single was erased on a double play off the bat of Mariners slugger Julio Rodríguez, Justin Turner singled and Heaney got Randy Arozarena to a 3-2 count. The ensuing pitch was a slider near the lower part of the strike zone, but home-plate-umpire Malachi Moore called it a ball.

The next hitter, Heaney’s former Rangers teammate Mitch Garver, blasted a first-pitch fastball 408 feet over the wall in left-center field.

“He should have been out of that inning,” Bochy said. “That’s a tough break there for him, but he gave us a chance.”

Heaney improved after that. In the second inning, he hit J.P. Crawford with a pitch and gave up a single to Robles, but he got Rodríguez to fly out to left field to end the threat. In the third inning, he gave up back-to-back two-out hits to Garver and Dylan Moore but struck out Luis Urías to wiggle out of the situation. Heaney retired six of the next seven hitters to complete five innings of three-run ball.

“It got better as it went along,” Heaney said. “The next two innings, I had traffic, couple guys on again, and worked out of it. The last couple were a little better, but it was just one of those days where you’ve got to keep grinding and put up zeros.”

That’s what Kirby did, which made Heaney’s efforts an afterthought. Texas scratched out one single and sent the minimum 21 batters to the plate through seven innings against Kirby, then went down in order in the eighth and ninth against Mariners relievers Trent Thornton and Eduard Bazardo, completing the combined 27-batter one-hit shutout.

Kirby, who entered the game with a 5-0 record and 1.08 ERA in his career against the Rangers, improved those numbers to 6-0 and 0.92.

Of the 21 outs he recorded, 11 were groundouts. And when he did give up a hit, which came on Ezequiel Duran’s single in the second inning, he quickly erased it with an inning-ending double-play ball off the bat of Carson Kelly. After that, he retired his last 15 batters, three by strikeout. The Rangers did not work a single walk off Kirby.

“He threw two fastballs very effectively and put his breaking ball on the corners,” Nathaniel Lowe said. “When a guy is doing that, it’s very tough. Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap.”

The Rangers will now regroup, fly home and then get back after it with three games against the Blue Jays and three more against the Mariners. They’ll likely have another chance to take a crack at Kirby in Arlington.

“We’ve had a tough time with him,” Bochy said. “He’s really had his way with us. We just couldn’t figure him out and he threw another great game against us.”