Commentary: The Astros are coming — and the Mariners might not have the offense to stop them

SEATTLE – Two weeks ago it was nine.

One week ago it was six.

As of now, it’s three , and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist – emphasis on rocket – to figure out what I mean.

The Astros have crept to within three games of the first-place Mariners in the American League West standings after a Monday that featured Houston beating the Blue Jays 3-1 while the Mariners took the day off.

On Sunday at T-Mobile Park, Minnesota might have made a series of flubs , but it was the home team that fumbled the game away en route to its fourth straight series loss.

That’s right, the Mariners have dropped eight of their past 11 games while their surging division rival has put them in a particularly tenuous position. The Astros are coming – and the M’s might not have the offense to stop them.

We’ve known about Seattle’s hitting troubles for several months now, as the scoring spurts have been sparse. The Mariners (47-39) are eight games above .500 but have scored just six more runs than they’ve allowed – a common theme since manager Scott Servais came aboard nine years ago.

They play one-run games more efficiently than everyone else, winning them at an astonishing clip year after year. But it seems whenever Tinkerbell takes a holiday and those timely hits disappear, the Mariners do, too.

Serving as Exhibit A is Sunday, when the Mariners went 4 for 18 with runners in scoring position. Runners on second and third with one out in the first? Two straight strikeouts to keep the inning scoreless. Runners on first and second with one out in the second? A strikeout followed by a fly out for another bagel of an inning.

Luke Raley began the fourth with a double, then watched three consecutive teammates get fanned. And even though Raley (3 for 5 with a run and an RBI) had one of the better games of his career, it was the missed opportunities that kept the right fielder’s face from cracking a smile.

“I mean, the overall day looks good, but it felt like I gave away my first at-bat with runners on second and third – that can’t happen,” said Raley, whose first plate appearance resulted in a two-out strikeout. “We’re kind of grinding right now, so it’s one of those times where you keep showing up, keep working hard and pray that it turns around sooner or later.”

Well, if we’re going to talk about prayers, it seemed at least a couple baseball gods were donning Mariners jerseys Sunday. In the first inning, Julio Rodriguez looked as if he was going to hit into a double play before Twins second baseman Austin Martin bobbled the ball for a Julio “hit.”

Four innings later, Rodriguez grounded the ball to pitcher Joe Ryan, who also mishandled it, thus allowing Dylan Moore to score. One at-bat later, catcher Cal Raleigh hit a pop fly to center fielder that Byron Buxton lost in the sun, which led to a run on the next Mariners at-bat.

No matter. Wasn’t enough on a day when Seattle’s offense – 26th in MLB in runs and OPS – moved just three players across home plate.

Is there a common thread when you look back at these four straight series losses? I asked Servais after the game.

“You gotta get timely hitting. Timely hitting is the common thread,” he responded. “When we’re rolling and we’re winning all the series, certainly at home we’ve been really good, it’s because we have been very timely in our hitting. There hasn’t been a lot of hitting, but the hits have come at the right time. That’s what it takes. Our pitching is good enough – we know that.”

Indeed the Mariners boast one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, as it ranks sixth in MLB with a 3.58 ERA. But the hurlers aren’t so dominant that they can stave off the Astros if the M’s’ offense doesn’t become more potent. That will require Rodriguez – who is 2 for his last 29 and ranks 134th in OPS in the major leagues– to rediscover his All-Star form. And it will almost certainly require the acquisition of a proven bat at the trade deadline, too.

The bright side? Next up for the Mariners are the lowly Orioles, who … never mind – have the second-best record in the American League.

That’s bad timing when you’re in the midst of a skid. Good timing at the plate is all that can save them.