SEATTLE -- The Angels head home to Anaheim for the first time in 2019 in the midst of their worst start since the franchise’s first season in 1961.

The Halos dropped Tuesday’s two-game series finale against the Mariners, 2-1, to finish their season-opening road trip 1-5. The theme of the young season has been the club’s continued struggles to create run-scoring opportunities, or manufacture production should those situations arise. But the club believes there are signs of promise.

“The magnifying glass is a little bit bigger the opening week,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “If this happens in July, it's a little bit more of a blip on the radar, so I don't get too caught up in it when it happens. You want to win every game, but there's certainly time to right the ship.”

Here are a few takeaways from the Halos’ season-opening road trip.

The offense has struggled, but they’re also missing key pieces

Angels’ offensive rankings through Tuesday

BA: .178 (third-worst in MLB)

OBP: .240 (worst)

SLG: .241 (second-worst)

wOBA: .215 (worst)

Over the past week, they scored just five runs off opposing starters in 37 2/3 innings, including only one on Tuesday against Mariners lefty Marco Gonzales, who came just two outs shy of a complete game.

Much of their struggles have been rooted in the top of the lineup, which, one day after going hitless from the one through four spots, combined to go 2-for-15. Andrelton Simmons’ one-out single in the ninth accounted for one of those hits, which put Mike Trout just 90 feet from home after he drew a four-pitch walk from Gonzales, but Albert Pujols punched out against Anthony Swarzak, and Jonathan Lucroy was beaten out by inches on a game-sealing groundout as Trout crossed the plate.

In theory, those middle-of-the-order at-bats would be delegated to Shohei Ohtani (right elbow) and Justin Upton (turf toe), whose absences are becoming increasingly glaring. Ohtani is on track to return in May, but Upton will be out at least two months, leaving the Angels with what they have for now, which is some combination of Pujols, Simmons, Lucroy and Justin Bour hitting in the heart of the order.

Bour is 1-for-18 and sat Tuesday to dodge the lefty-lefty matchup with Gonzales. And Zack Cozart, who the club hopes to lead off, at least against lefties, is off to a 1-for-19 start after Tuesday’s 0-for-4 showing.

“You look up at the numbers on the board when guys come up, they're just not where their career norms are,” Ausmus said. “So we're scuffling. This opening road trip was a struggle for us offensively. It certainly can't keep up though.”

The starting rotation has been sharp

Trevor Cahill kept a red-hot Mariners lineup quiet on Tuesday while altering the approach he exhibited in his Opening Day start by turning more to his cutter, which he polished this spring with aspirations of making it a more true out pitch -- if it wasn’t already.

“Just one of those things where you get swings and misses and you automatically start feeling better with it,” Cahill said. “That's just how it works. I'm just kind of getting comfortable with it, and having success with it and figuring out when it works and when it doesn't.”

Cahill matched his six innings from last Thursday, but against the Mariners, he showed stronger command and gave up only one run, manifested through a pair of doubles in the sixth. Beyond a third-inning double from Daniel Vogelbach in the third, Cahill was perfect through the first five innings.

Angels starters have posted a 4.99 ERA that ranks 23rd, but the starting staff has kept the offense in games.

Matt Harvey, who starts Thursday’s home opener against the Rangers, was sharp over six innings of two-run ball in his debut last Friday. Tyler Skaggs gave up just two runs Sunday, but received zero runs of support. Felix Pena, who is on the roster for the injured Andrew Heaney (left elbow), had perhaps the largest blemish on Saturday when he gave up four runs and was pulled in the fourth. And though he gave up a four-spot in the first on Monday, Chris Stratton settled in to retire nine of his final 13.

“As long as we're in games and we have a chance to win, we're always going to have a chance. Our pitchers have been doing that,” Lucroy said. “We've just got to be better as a lineup.”

The bullpen has been a bright spot

Two mistake pitches over the past two days led to the lone runs Angels relievers have surrendered to this point. Hansel Robles and Luis Garcia were responsible for the deep flies, but beyond that, the Halos have been satisfied with what they’ve gotten out of their bullpen, which sports a 1.47 ERA, second-best in the league.

“Our pitching has done an outstanding job this whole road trip,” Ausmus said. “They've done an outstanding job. I'm certainly not going to fault [Garcia] just because he gives up a solid home run and we lose 2-1. We just struggled with the bats.”