SEATTLE -- Four-game sweeps are always a tall task, even at home and even against the cellar dwellers of Major League Baseball.

Yet, for a Mariners team that has been defined by late-game magic, a 3-2 loss to the White Sox in 10 innings stung a little more than it initially shaped up, especially after Julio Rodríguez tied the game with a massive solo homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Rodríguez demolished a 99.3 mph elevated fastball from flamethrowing reliever Michael Kopech and sent it 415 feet to the opposite field, 109.3 mph off the bat, with Seattle down to its final two outs. It was vintage Rodríguez from his American League Rookie of the Year Award-winning season in 2022, when he was regularly crushing back-spinning, opposite-field blasts.

"I feel like every time that we're in those situations, we're always ready to take the game, especially here in Seattle," Rodríguez said. "Like, we expect ourselves to win those games. Today, the ball was on their side."

Alas, the Mariners couldn't keep the mojo going and went quietly in the 10th, after Andrés Muñoz surrendered an unearned run via Chicago's automatic runner, Korey Lee, who advanced to third on a single that darted past diving third baseman Josh Rojas and scored on a chopper that rolled too slowly to Rojas for him to either turn a 5-4-3 double play or throw out Lee at the plate.

In that vein, the Mariners weren't sulking on Thursday night at T-Mobile Park, where they took their first extra-innings loss of the season. Muñoz made just his second appearance since exiting with a lower back strain last Tuesday in Oakland.

"Coming into the game, you knew it was going to be a tough one for us," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "A tough matchup, and you're hoping to be in the exact type of game we were in. It's close, late, you get into the bullpen, you hope that we can find some magic there, but just not quite enough."

The way they went down, though, at least early -- overpowered by an opposing starter, this matchup featuring Chicago's Garrett Crochet -- further illuminated an offensive trend they're looking to overcome.

For all of the Mariners' late-innings thrillers this season, it's no coincidence that nearly all those moments come against bullpens. Seattle has a .701 OPS against relievers (12th best in MLB) compared to a .642 OPS against starters this year (29th). Conversely, opposing relievers have a 4.24 ERA against the Mariners, while starters have a 3.18 ERA.

Crochet exclusively turned to a four-seam fastball and cutter combination over his 102-pitch outing, only once throwing an offspeed pitch -- a changeup, which rookie first baseman Tyler Locklear turned into his first career homer with a 366-foot, sky-high solo shot that just barely cleared the yellow padding in left field in the fifth. That wound up being one of just three Mariners hits, along with Rodríguez's homer and a double from Victor Robles.

Other than that, Crochet -- the Majors' second-hardest-throwing left-handed starter -- dominated with 24 whiffs leading to 13 strikeouts, both season highs, while averaging 97.1 mph on his four-seam fastball and 91.1 mph on the cutter. Crochet is a legitimate All-Star candidate and could be one of the most coveted arms at next month's Trade Deadline. Most teams have had trouble against him.

"Those type of guys always look better in the National League," Servais joked. "And especially teams that we've already played.

Still, even with notable improvements in June, the Mariners are clearly still trying to sort through some of their swing-and-miss tendencies, as they lead the Majors with a 27.5% strikeout rate and K'd 19 times on Thursday -- the most by any team in any single game this year.

Because their pitching -- even reinforcements like Emerson Hancock on Thursday -- will continue to keep them in virtually every game.

Hancock surrendered consecutive solo homers to Andrew Vaughn and Luis Robert Jr. in the fifth but was otherwise solid, clearing a career-high seven innings on a day he was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to account for Bryan Woo's scratched start on Tuesday and Seattle opting to push back the rest of its rotation by one day.

The Mariners nearly eked one out again. They just needed a little extra, and more consistency against opposing starters could certainly play into that formula.