SEATTLE -- They say a picture paints a thousand words, and the screengrab of Marco Gonzales in the dugout just after being removed on Wednesday -- towel firmly gripped around his neck, lips tightly pressed together and sweat slowly beading down his face -- could easily hang in a gallery of disappointment.

Gonzales had just watched the scoreless tie he departed with evaporate, moments after he was pulled with two outs in the seventh inning against Minnesota, coming inches shy of completing seven shutout innings on a would-be inning-ending double play.

Yet, instead of giving him one more shot to navigate the traffic, at 90 pitches, Mariners manager Scott Servais opted for Paul Sewald to face righty-hitting Ryan Jeffers, who had one of the three hits against Gonzales earlier. But the Mariners’ leverage reliever served up an RBI single on his second pitch, which proved decisive on a day when Seattle’s bats were shut out for the eighth time this season, this time in a 5-0 loss in a rubber game at T-Mobile Park on Wednesday afternoon.

• Box score

One at-bat before Jose Miranda legged out the fielder’s choice to knock out Gonzales, Servais had gone to the mound in what looked like a pitching change, especially after a four-pitch walk to Luis Arraez, only to return to the dugout and let Gonzales keep going. Gonzales told him, “I’ve got a double-play ball in my hand right here” -- and he nearly did, but that was all the leash he was granted.

“When we didn't get [the] double play, I thought Jeffers was a little bit different matchup,” Servais said. “Jeffers is much, much better against left-handed pitching than right-handed pitching, but again, Paul didn't get the ball where he wanted to, and it just didn't happen for us. A big out in the game. They got a big swing and we didn't get it done.”

• Sign up for the Mariners Beat newsletter

Gonzales held the first 12 Twins hitters hitless -- including Byron Buxton, who entered the day 4-for-7 against him with three homers -- carving his way through with the changeup that’s become a true weapon, often throwing it in fastball counts to thwart the Twins’ timing. It was a big bounce back, not just from Friday against Boston, when he needed 44 pitches to get through the first inning, but also from his worst, and first, start of the year in Minnesota, when he gave up six runs in two innings. 

But beyond the transition to the bullpen, there were two other late, critical moments where the Mariners fell short, both in the bottom of the seventh.

With no outs and runners on first and second base, Dylan Moore hit a sky-high bunt popup against a rising, 86.2 mph fastball from Joe Smith that failed to advance the runners. Then, after Luis Torrens moved them over on a groundout, Servais pinch-hit Abraham Toro for Taylor Trammell for the right-on-left matchup, and Toro flew out to right.

It wasn’t the only critical strand. Trammell reached third base on a double and an error to lead off the bottom of the third, but was left there after Sam Haggerty, Adam Frazier and Ty France went down in order. Entering the day, the Mariners had 118 plate appearances with a runner on third and less than two outs and had converted that runner into a run just 45.8 percent of the time, the third-lowest rate in the Majors.

Beyond being shut out, they stranded seven baserunners, extending their MLB-high total to 467 for the season, and they went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. 

“It'd be one thing if we didn't have any chances at all,” Servais said. “But we do have people on base, and then it's a matter of having quality at-bats in those spots and not trying to do too much. We do have a few guys that are pressing a little bit and trying to do too much in those spots.”

Wednesday was, in many ways, a microcosm of where things stand. Following Gonzales’ outing, Mariners starting pitchers have a 2.76 ERA in their past 19 games dating back to May 25, the third-best in the Majors, but the club is 10-9 overall in this stretch. 

As has been reiterated multiple times, Seattle is without key run-producing contributors such as Mitch Haniger and Kyle Lewis, and J.P. Crawford missed a second straight game due to food poisoning. But there aren’t many, if any, legitimate reinforcement options at Triple-A Tacoma, especially as Jarred Kelenic continues to sort out swing-and-miss challenges while recovering from a hamstring issue. 

So, the Mariners will press on with what they have.

“I think every team at any point in the season goes through lulls, multiple lulls, multiple stretches where you win a lot of games and you find your identity through those times,” Gonzales said. “So my hope is that through our struggles in May, dropping a couple series [here] back to back, I hope our identity starts to come out a little bit more. 

“Last year, we were kind of the cardiac kids, winning games late, one-run games, and that might not just be us this year. I hope that if anything, we learn a lot about ourselves so that we're geared up for a big second half, too.”