Cal Raleigh: "We're not a good baseball team right now."

SEATTLE - The Seattle Mariners had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the 10th inning looking for a game-winning base hit that would get them back to .500.

But in much the same way most of this season has gone so far for the Mariners, the offense tripped and fell flat. The Washington Nationals showed Seattle the way it's supposed to look in the top of the 11th with three runs to hand the Mariners a 7-4 loss that felt incredibly deflating inside T-Mobile Park Tuesday night.

"There's no way to sugarcoat it. Everybody knows we should have won," manager Scott Servais said.

Gabe Speier hit C.J. Abrams with a pitch in the seventh inning and he came around to score after a pair walks from Matt Brash and a sacrifice fly delivered by Luis Garcia to tie the game at 3-3. Jarred Kelenic then walked and scored on a play at the plate after a groundball to shortstop by Kolten Wong to give the Mariners a 4-3 advantage.

Keibert Ruiz tied it in the eighth inning with a solo home run off Paul Sewald to make it a 4-4 game.

The offensive failure in the 10th inning wasn't the only chance Seattle had to win the game with the bat in their hands.

Eugenio Suárez doubled with one out in the ninth inning only to be stranded to send the game to extra innings.

Justin Topa allowed a walk but kept the Nationals off the board in the top of the 10th inning to set up another winning opportunity for the Mariners. J.P. Crawford was intentionally walked behind Kolten Wong serving as the runner at second base. Julio Rodríguez then drew a walk on a pitch clock violation to load the bases with no outs.

But despite the Mariners leading all of MLB entering the night in batting average with the bases loaded, they were unable to deliver against Washington.

Ty France popped out to the catcher, Teoscar Hernández struck out swinging and Cal Raleigh had a check swing knock a Jordan Weems pitch right back to the pitcher to negate the Mariners obvious best chance to win the game.

"Yeah, we just didn't execute," Raleigh said. "It was three terrible at-bats. We got to find a way to get that run in. That's what good teams do and we're not doing it right now."

Added Servais: "We have guys that have come through in those spots multiple times. And that's why it's hard to figure out why it's not happening now. And you're not going to do it all the time. OK, it is still a hard game. But our lack of execution late in these games has happened quite a bit this year. It's the reason our record is what it is. We should probably be a little bit better but we haven't executed late."

These exact situations are part of the reason the Mariners broke their 21-year playoff drought last season. Winning tight contests and delivered in the clutch were the secret sauce that helped the Mariners finally get the proverbial monkey off their backs. But that extra piece just hasn't been there much of this season.

The Mariners know it. They've tried to fix it. So far, it hasn't manifested on the field.

"No. No. The problem hasn't been fixed yet," Raleigh said. "You know, I don't know what comes first, winning or fixing the problem, whatever it might be. But, you know, we got to pick it up. We're better than this. We know it. We have really good players in this clubhouse. We just got to find a way to get it done."

Raleigh was obviously frustrated with the result of the game and the continued flailing of the offense in big spots. 

"It's kind of like what it's been all year," he said. "We get into those key moments, we get a guy on the ropes and then, you know, we let him off with one pitch and then he kind of gets rolling, next guy gets a strikeout, and then you know, the checked swing obviously, wasn't great, but you know, we're just not putting together good at-bats right now. We got to change."

The Mariners just can't seem to get any momentum going. The team has been within two games of .500 all but one day since getting to a 14-16 record on May 2. They are exactly 24-24 over the last 48 game they've played with a high water mark of three games over .500 at 28-25 on May 28 after a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"Yeah, we're just kind of stagnant," Raleigh said. "And I don't really feel like there's been a big change so far. It's not on anybody else except us. And we got to find a way to change and, you know, we keep saying it over and over, I feel like this is getting repetitive. Win a couple, lose a couple, win a couple ones, lose a couple. You guys come and ask the same questions. And, you know, we got to fix something. I mean, it's up to us and we're just not doing it right now." 

They are fourth in the AL West behind the Texas Rangers (48-31), Los Angeles Angels (44-37) and Houston Astros (42-37) and a 4.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot currently held by the Angels. They are tied with the Cleveland Guardians with three teams ahead of them in Houston, Toronto and Boston that are all also on the outside looking in.

The Mariners are looking at having maybe just one representative in the All-Star Game that they're hosting in exactly two weeks time. Rodríguez, Suárez and Kolten Wong have underperformed relative to their numbers last season. Free agent signing Tommy La Stella has already been released. Kelenic and J.P. Crawford have cooled out after relatively strong starts.

It's a collective shortcoming right now. And if the Mariners can't get it fixed, a new postseason drought will begin in October.

"It's very frustrating," Raleigh said. "You know, I don't think it's a lack of effort. I just look at us and you know, we're not a good baseball team right now. Straight up. I think, you know, it's nice and all, you know, all the kind of good vibes and whatever, but, you know, we're not playing well right now and we know it and we got to pick it up."