SEATTLE -- The Mariners had the best player on the planet on the ropes early Wednesday afternoon, inducing some rare competitive vulnerability from Shohei Ohtani as the Angels’ two-way star walked four, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch that led to a run.

For good measure, Ohtani was charged with a pitch timer violation both on the mound and at the plate, adding a new benchmark to a résumé littered with all-time firsts, many iconic and, in this case, quirky.

• Game Story: Flexen solid over 5 innings ▶️

Yet Seattle’s offense played catch-up all afternoon -- all the way through a walk-off opportunity -- before the Mariners eventually fell, 4-3, to end the season-opening homestand with five losses in seven games.

J.P. Crawford ripped a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Julio Rodríguez grounded into a forceout and Ty France, red-hot this year to that point, struck out half-swinging at a fastball way above the zone to end the game.

While the Mariners were more competitive this series against the Angels compared to over the weekend against the Guardians, there wasn’t much solace in summarizing what’s been a sluggish start to this season of heightened stakes.

“We’re so used to finding a way to win those games,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Getting the big out late or the big hit late really hasn’t come our way early in the season so far.”

After leading MLB in one-run wins in each of the past two seasons, with a combined 77, the Mariners are now 0-2 in such contests this year. They had a rally brewing in the seventh, and to a lower-stakes extent in the first, but both were quashed by outs on the basepaths.

In the first, on an RBI single by Eugenio Suárez to right, France was cut down at the plate attempting to score from second base after the Angels’ throw sailed wide of third. The ball quickly caromed off the visiting dugout’s exterior and back into play, a tough-luck situation but one that had it been avoided could’ve pushed Ohtani on the ropes further, as it was the first out in that inning.

The more monumental occurred when Suárez ripped an RBI single into shallow left, again scoring France, but Suárez was caught in a run-down with two outs after the Angels’ cutoff man corralled the throw from left field and didn't go to the plate. 

“It took us out of a big-time rally,” Servais said. “We are a momentum-driven team, and you could feel the momentum of the game starting to switch right there.”

Those moments were more magnified given how they’d started against Ohtani, who advanced to 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA in seven career starts against Seattle.

As his pitch count ballooned, so did his effectiveness, thanks in large part to changing the shape and speed of his breaking balls. He was at 46 pitches through the second inning and 69 through the third. But he needed only 24 to get through the fourth and fifth. He wound up throwing a whopping 111, which matched his 2022 high and is easily the most in MLB one week into this season.

“I noticed the second, third time through, he started implementing a cutter to everyone,” Crawford said. “We haven't seen that at all since we faced him, or at least he hadn't thrown that many. That's just the type of pitcher he has. He could go ahead and go throw a new pitch in the middle of a game and use it effectively.”

Adding to the frustration was that the Mariners mostly limited Ohtani -- and Mike Trout, for that matter -- at the plate all afternoon, until the tandem combined for a pair of RBI infield hits against Andrés Muñoz in the eighth. With dribbling exit velocities of 67.5 and 68.2 mph, respectively, those knocks gave the Halos the cushion they needed.

“It does happen; you can’t control that stuff,” Servais said.

If there was a positive, it’s that Chris Flexen slid seamlessly back into the rotation to take over for Robbie Ray, who will be out 4-6 weeks with a left flexor strain. Flexen surrendered just two runs on two hits over five innings.

But moral victories aren’t what a Mariners team looking for a strong start is seeking. They now head out on the road for the first time this year, looking for more consistency at the plate and more late-innings shutdowns.