Mariners’ losing streak reaches 5 games as offense remains listless

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Maybe the All-Star break can start a day early for the Mariners so the losing can at least be put on pause for a few days. They can’t really pray for a rainout at the refurbished Tropicana Field, which easily withstood a booming and soaking afternoon thunderstorm.

Of course, there are some fans that might argue that Seattle based on its performance over the past five days, started its All-Star break already.

With their 6-1 loss to the Rays on Saturday, the Mariners are in jeopardy of being swept by the Rays and losing every game on this six-game Florida road trip.

The Mariners will turn to Emerson Hancock on Sunday in the series finale and the last game of the first “half,” hoping he can provide a workable start and the offense can get at least one hit of consequence if not two to salvage at least one victory.

How bad has it gotten?

Manager Dan Wilson didn’t even say, “Tough one” after the loss.

Really, the game wasn’t as lopsided as the score.

Until Gabe Speier gave up a three-run homer to pinch-hitter Ryan Vilade on the first pitch of his appearance in the bottom of the seventh, the Mariners had trailed by just one run and were at least in theory, capable of rallying for a lead in the victory.

Then again with an offense that seemingly has a mental block when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position, the best bet for success might be a bunch of solo homers.

For the fourth straight game, the Mariners went hitless with runners in scoring position – 0-for-6 – and seem to be regressing with each failed opportunity.

It started in the first inning. Tampa starter Griffin Jax, who was a reliever the Mariners tried to acquire from the Twins last season, struggled to find his command in the first. With one out, he walked Randy Arozarena, gave up a single to Dominic Canzone and walked Cal Raleigh to load the bases.

But Jax came back to strike out Josh Naylor and Luke Raley to end the inning. An opportunity was squandered and the tension felt by Seattle hitters in those situations tightened even more.

The Mariners run came in the second inning. Cole Young led off with a double to left-center and moved to third on a Victor Robles sac bunt. Colt Emerson scored Young with a sac fly to deep center.

When the Mariners put runners on first and second with one out in the third only to see the inning immediately end with Naylor lining out sharply to first and Arozarena getting doubled off on the play, the frustration from the Mariners dugout could be felt.

“There’s no question that guys are frustrated by it,” Wilson said. “Nayls squared up a ball and its right there to the first baseman. There’s just not a lot of things you can do. We’re continuing to grind. And I know the hitting coaches put in a ton of work with these guys, and everybody is doing what they can to turn it around. It just hasn’t happened.”

The last time the Mariners got a hit with a runner in scoring position was Josh Naylor’s single in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s series opener vs. the Marlins.

Since then, they have gone hitless in 27 straight at-bats with runners in scoring position. While that isn’t the only way to score, the Mariners have hit just four homers on the road trip. Seattle has stranded 34 runners on base on the road trip.

“We’ve had some chances and we’ve hit some balls hard, and again, nothing too much to show for it,” Wilson said. “Just another frustrating day. I feel like we’re finding barrels, but not able to turn them into hits and runs. It’s coming, but it hasn’t started yet.”

Here’s a game by game look at the Mariners’ production with runners in scoring position:

• Tuesday vs. Marlins: 2-13 (8 runners left on base)
• Wednesday vs. Marlins: 0-for-5 (7 runners left on base)
• Thursday vs. Marlins: 0-for-7 (8 runners left on base)
• Friday: vs. Rays: 0-for-7 (3 runners left on base)
• Saturday vs. Rays: 0-for-6 (8 runners left on base)

It seemed like Logan Gilbert was on his way to a solid seven-inning quality start for Seattle while also notching his 1,000th career strikeout in the second inning. The milestone earned a standing ovation from his family and friends seated behind the dugout.,

“It’s a big deal being close to home,” he said. “If I’m not going to get it in Seattle, this is the next best place. I had a lot of people out here, so a lot of people in that stands that helped me since I was four-years-old till now to get here. So it was pretty full circle moment. It was cool.”

Unfortunately, he also gave up a run in the second on a RBI double from former teammate Ben Williamson, who had four hits on the day. The Rays took a 2-1 lead in the third on back-to-back doubles from Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda. Gilbert worked the next three innings in scoreless and retired hte first two batters of the seventh.

Wilson had Eduard Bazardo and Speier warming in the bullpen. After Gilbert for Diaz to fly out to right for the second out of the seventh, Wilson went to the mound to talk to his starter.

“I told him, ‘Let me get another batter. I feel good,’” Gilbert said,. “And he said, ‘Go for it.’”

Wilson thought Gilbert earned the chance to continue.

“He’s been so good for us,” Wilson said. “He was tough and we had a chance there to get out of that inning with him, and I thought he really deserved a shot at that.”

The shot ended when Aranda doubled to right-center. With first base open, the Mariners intentionally walked Junior Caminero to bring left-handed hitting Cedric Mullins to the plate. Wilson went to Speier for the left-on-left matchup. Once Speier came trotting to the mound, Cash went to his bench for pinch hitter Ryan Vilade.

Playing in his 80th MLB game over parts of four MLB seasons, Vilade ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Speier, sending deep blast into the left-field seats for a pinch-hit, three-run homer.

It was the second homer that Speier has allowed on the road trip. He’s given up hard contact on first-pitch fastballs to multiple hitters of late.

“So much of what Gabe does is he attacks and he stays on the offensive, and that’s a big part of who he is,” Wilson said. “We don’t want to change that at all.”

Down 5-1, the Mariners weren’t going to come back. They would’ve had a hard time rallying from a one-run deficit.

But just for good measure, they had some more failures with runners in scoring position. Victor Robles doubled with one out in the seventh, tweaking his knee as he got out of the box. But it didn’t matter as he stood on second watching Colt Emerson and J.P. Crawford strike out against lefty Cam Booser.

In the eighth against lefty Garrett Cleavinger, Raleigh worked a walk and Naylor doubled to left-center to put runners on second and third. But pinch hitter Mitch Garver struck out swinging to end the inning.