Mariners unable to find ways to win vs. Reds with crucial tough stretch ahead

SEATTLE -- After a rough road trip going into the All-Star break, the Mariners came back with six games at home against a pair of teams that will both firmly be in seller’s mode at the Trade Deadline. Seattle won three of the first four games to take its set against San Francisco, regain first place in the AL West and sit a game away from a winning homestand.

Two days later, and the Mariners are just right about where it started. After Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to the Reds at T-Mobile Park, the Mariners are back under .500 and they’re back behind the Rangers in the division.

“Tough afternoon today,” manager Dan Wilson said.

Emerson Hancock gave the Mariners six innings of two-run ball and left in line for the win, thanks to an RBI single from Cal Raleigh in the second and a two-run knock from Luke Raley in the fourth. But with Hancock out of the game in the seventh, the Reds tagged Eduard Bazardo for a three-run homer, which proved to be the difference.

Here are three takeaways from the day:

Hancock picks up where he left off

Hancock’s breakout of a first half came to a sudden and slightly worrying conclusion in St. Petersburg during the final game before the break, when he reflexively tried to barehand a 107.2 mph comebacker on the first pitch of his night. He stayed in to finish the frame, but by the time the second inning rolled around, his hand was too swollen to grip the baseball.

Because of that, the All-Star break came at just the right time for the 27-year-old. Ten days later, he looked no worse for wear, recording his 10th quality start of the season.

“Really just rest. I felt like, when the X-rays came back negative, we were in a good spot,” Hancock said. “Just gave it a couple days completely off. Moved my arm a little bit over the break. When I came back here, my throwing was smooth, there were no problems with it.”

Hancock went six innings, bouncing back from a two-run frame in the fourth to get through the fifth and sixth on 22 pitches.

“He continued to do what he’s done all season long, and that was attack the zone, get ahead and make pitches when he had to,” Wilson said. “He gave us a chance.”

Julio heating up?

Big second halves have become a theme for Julio Rodríguez, but this season’s didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts. Seattle’s center fielder came out of the break still on the IL, dealing with the effects of a concussion suffered during the first half’s final homestand. After returning Saturday, he played just two full games before picking up another physical ailment, when he was hit by an Elly De La Cruz throw in the series opener.

That leg injury forced him from Monday’s game in the sixth inning and kept him out of the starting lineup Tuesday, but he came in off the bench, drilling a home run in his second at-bat. Wednesday, he continued to hit the ball hard, drilling a 110.3 mph liner straight to Dane Myers in center in the fifth before getting in the hit column with a 109.6 mph double to left-center in the eighth.

In his six at-bats the past game and a half, Rodríguez has recorded three of his top 16 exit velocities on the season -- and that doesn’t include the homer.

“He’s continuing to sting the ball,” Wilson said. “... That’s what we’ve seen from him a little bit more lately, and that’s a great sign.”

Big games coming up

After Thursday’s off-day, things aren’t going to get any easier for the Mariners, but they sure are about to get a lot more high-stakes.

Next up for Seattle is a four-game set vs. the Rangers in Arlington, a chance to swing the division back in the Mariners’ favor -- or even further away from it.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got another opportunity in Texas,” Hancock said. “You’ve got another chance to go in there, compete as hard as you can and maybe you get on a run from there.”

The club’s first trip to Globe Life Field was one to forget, as Seattle totaled just three runs over the course of a three-game sweep.

It won’t get any easier after that, with the Mariners going to Dodger Stadium for three games against the back-to-back World Series champions.