Mariners under .500: 'Not a great road trip'

Justin Dunn labored through 3 1/3 innings, which forced Mariners manager Scott Servais to turn to the reeling bullpen sooner than he would’ve hoped. And Seattle’s bats were once again stymied by Dodgers lefty Julio Urías, without a hit until the fifth inning. That combination led to a 7-1 loss in Los Angeles on Wednesday to finish a 1-4 road trip.

? Box score

Dunn, who worked through a 1-2-3 first inning on 12 pitches, ballooned his pitch count in the following three frames while throwing first-pitch balls to seven of his 13 batters in that span. Though he only gave up two runs -- on a double by Matt Beaty that scored Max Muncy and Justin Turner, who walked in consecutive plate appearances -- Dunn left the mound visibly disappointed after his shortest outing since Sept. 13 of last year.

“Unfortunately tonight, I wasn't really able to land it,” Dunn said. “Credit to them, they did a good job of really spitting on some that were down in the zone over competitive pitches, especially in putaway counts. … I felt like my best outings, I’ve thrown the ball pretty well. Even tonight, I don't think I threw the ball terrible. Fastball command kind of got a little bit away from me there in the fourth. Unfortunately, that's what happened, but definitely a lot of growth.”

He left for reliever Will Vest, who despite pitching on three days’ rest proceeded to give up a season-high four runs on four hits against nine batters over 1 1/3 innings. Vest has given up six earned runs in his past two outings after giving up just two over his first 14. Left-hander Aaron Fletcher also gave up a run when Muncy’s leadoff single was cashed in via AJ Pollock’s pinch-hit RBI single.

The Mariners’ bullpen, which was statistically among the Majors’ best in April, has given up 19 earned runs and 25 hits in 14 2/3 innings (11.66 ERA) over the club’s losing streak, which on Wednesday reached four games, tied for a season worst.

“Credit to their ballclub -- it's as good a two-strike-hitting team as you're going to see in this league,” said Servais. “They're aggressive at times, but with two strikes, they really shrink the strike zone, and you saw it tonight.”

Three weeks after being one-hit by Urías in Seattle in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel with Marco Gonzales, the Mariners didn’t have an answer for L.A.’s lefty. He threw seven innings and struck out six.

Ty France broke through with the club’s first hit in the fifth inning, a single that found daylight between shortstop Corey Seager and the third baseman, Turner. Dylan Moore followed with a single two at-bats later, which scored France. But that wound up being the only at-bat the Mariners had against Urías with runners in scoring position.

“Certainly, we struggled again tonight and offensively,” said Servais. “Urías, he's tough. He has our number. And we did didn't do much against him at all. So, not a great road trip. Certainly not what we were looking for after it started out on a high note in Texas. A couple games got away from us on this trip.”

Wednesday was the Mariners’ fourth game of 2021 against the defending World Series champions, and the first that got away early. Seattle had kept L.A. honest in each of its previous three meetings, including Tuesday's 6-4 loss, in which Rafael Montero gave up a go-ahead, three-run homer to Gavin Lux in the eighth inning that propelled the Dodgers to victory.

The Mariners will likely be excited to board their charter back to Seattle after a tough road trip that dropped the club below .500 for the first time this season.