OAKLAND -- Josh Harrison sharply turned around and faced home plate umpire Will Little with a look of disbelief after a called third strike leading off the bottom of the eighth inning. Then came the frustration as he voiced his displeasure before returning to the dugout.

That exchange was symbolic of the tough times the A’s currently face. With every game from here on out feeling like a must-win, each loss serves as a gut punch. Tuesday’s 5-2 defeat to the Mariners at the Coliseum was especially detrimental, dropping the A’s to three games back of the second American League Wild Card spot with 11 games remaining in the regular season.

• Wild Card standings

“We know where we stand,” said A’s starter Paul Blackburn, who allowed four runs (three earned) and lasted only four innings. “Losses like this are tough. Any loss right now is tough, especially when you’re trying to climb back into a Wild Card position. 

“Mathematically, we’re still in it. We pretty much have to be perfect the rest of the year, but it’s something that I feel we can do.”

The A’s returned home rolling on a five-game winning streak. But the Mariners have presented major problems for this club all year, and that continued to hold true through the first two games of this current four-game series.

The formula for Tuesday night’s loss was eerily similar to the one Oakland followed in Monday’s series opener. An early deficit that was the product of another short outing by an A’s starter was followed up with the offense’s inability to produce much against Seattle’s pitching staff.

Save for solo homers by Matt Olson and Starling Marte, the A’s were once again stymied, this time against Seattle starter Marco Gonzales and the Seattle bullpen. It was Oakland’s seventh straight loss to the Mariners. Over that stretch, they’ve scored just 18 runs.

“It was almost identical to last night’s game,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We get down a little bit and just don’t have enough to answer. It’s flipped back to where we’re getting good bullpen efforts and not getting the offense. We just gotta time it up right here. There’s not a lot of time left, but there’s still time to do it.”

Olson’s first-inning solo shot off Gonzales helped him reach a couple of impressive milestones. It was his 37th of the year, which is now a career high for the All-Star first baseman. With it also being his 21st home run off a left-handed pitcher, Olson joined elite company, matching Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. for the most homers off left-handed pitching by a left-handed batter over a single season.

There will come a time when Olson can sit back and appreciate his MVP-like numbers that continue to build. That time for positive reflection was not Tuesday night.

“The loss is way more important,” Olson said. “It’s a cool thing to surpass a certain number, but I wish we could have gotten the win.”

As the A’s goal of a fourth straight postseason berth continues to fade from reach, there are a handful of glaring statistics that stand out. A big one is their lack of success against winning teams. After Tuesday’s loss, Oakland is now 28-46 against teams with a record above .500, as opposed to 54-23 against sub-.500 clubs.

That certainly doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season, considering that Oakland's final 11 games will be played solely against the Mariners and the AL West-leading Astros.

“It goes without saying that it’s time to go,” Olson said. “Three games out of the Wild Card spot now with 11 games to go, we don’t have a whole lot to lose. We gotta go out there, loosen up and play our game. Go out there and compete and see what happens at the end.”

Despite being up against it, this group remains confident in its abilities.

“I feel like we can play with anybody in this league,” Blackburn said. “Our backs are definitely up against the wall right now, but I don’t think it’s something out of the realm for us to do.”