Mariners Noon Number: 4

After losing the first two games of an eight-game road trip, Seattle Mariners ended up 4-4 on their swing through Washington, Boston and Colorado, all teams with serious aspirations of the playoffs.

On Tuesday, the M’s completed a two-game sweep of the then-first place Colorado Rockies, winning 10-4, behind a season-high 19 hits. Of course, we’re taught not to trust anything that happens at Coors Field, where playing a mile above sea level makes the ball travel farther and curveballs not break as much.

So now, the Mariners come back to Safeco for a season-high 11-game homestand. The record still doesn’t look very good: at 22-29, seven games below .500 and a whopping 14 behind first-place Houston. But they are “only” 5 1/2 out of the wildcard and they’ve already suffered through a season’s worth (or two) of injury.

The rotation gets James Paxton back on Wednesday, and should get Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma before the end of June. Is it likely they come back and make a run at a wild card?

Honestly, no. But a 2-6 road trip as opposed to a 4-4 trip would have probably made it prohibitive. At least they still have a puncher’s chance.