SEATTLE -- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. didn’t want to talk about it after the game, and who could blame him?

There he was, properly positioned at first base as a solid throw from catcher Gabriel Moreno came his way in the fifth inning of the Blue Jays’ 6-5 loss to the Mariners on Sunday at T-Mobile Park. A simple catch would have completed an inning-ending double play and keep the three-run lead Toronto had built over the course of the first five frames.

Guerrero reached out, the ball hit the webbing of his glove, and suddenly, the webbing of his glove … just … broke.

The ball skirted into right field, the Mariners scored an improbable run and the inning was kept alive for Seattle’s rookie All-Star Julio Rodríguez, who followed with a hard infield single to shortstop Bo Bichette that scored Justin Upton, making it a one-run ballgame.

Then, more weirdness happened in the sixth.

With one out, Toronto reliever Tim Mayza hit Carlos Santana with a pitch, then uncorked a wild pitch to Eugenio Suárez that allowed Santana to reach second. Suárez hit a ground ball right back to Mayza, but the ball popped out of the pitcher’s glove and Suárez reached first on an infield single, pushing Santana to third. Cal Raleigh followed with a game-tying sacrifice fly to center field.

Toronto took the lead again in the seventh when Bichette capped a three-hit day with a solo home run, but more misfortune struck in the eighth, when Moreno dropped J.P. Crawford’s foul popup behind the plate for an error and Santana followed with his second homer of the day and third in the last two games, giving Seattle a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

The broken-glove play, which happened for the second time to Guerrero this year -- although the first one didn’t result in any runs -- seemed to be a microcosm of what’s been a rough recent run of games for Toronto. The Blue Jays sounded relieved to be able to head back north of the border for a series with the Phillies starting on Tuesday.

“This whole road trip, man, it's just like it's been a little bit of Murphy's Law, right?” said reliever David Phelps, who was on the mound when Guerrero’s equipment malfunction happened. “If something can go wrong, it will.

“The good thing is we’ve got a lot of season left. It’s about time for an off-day, regroup a little bit and get ready to go.”

The Blue Jays have navigated 18 games in 17 days over four cities and four time zones with no days off, and Sunday’s loss was the team’s fourth in a row, ninth in its last 10, and 10th in its last 13. Toronto finished the day tied with Seattle for the third and final American League Wild Card spot at 45-42.

And while some teams might be holding a pity party in the wake of bizarre bouts of bad luck, manager Charlie Montoyo said the team would bounce back and be better for it.

In fact, Montoyo pointed out that the Blue Jays fought to the end in the last three games of this series, they got admirable efforts from their last two starting pitchers -- one of which was Sunday’s "opener" in reliver Max Castillo -- and their bats started cooking a bit. George Springer led off with a homer and Raimel Tapia also went deep.

“We played well, you know?” Montoyo said. “Just tough freakin’ luck. I've seen it twice now this year and usually doesn't happen to the same guy. That kind of changed the momentum. Everybody felt it. Everybody knows the game. That was a tough break.

“But hey, we came back and took the lead again, so you’ve got to give our guys credit. It's time, tomorrow, to reset. Take a break. Again, we didn't play bad. We’re right there. We'll get back on track.”

The Blue Jays can do that if their banged-up pitching staff returns to health, and a Tuesday start by Kevin Gausman, whose bruised right ankle forced him to miss his turn in the rotation in Seattle, would help. They also can do that if they live up to the offensive promise that made them one of the teams to watch in the AL heading into 2022.

Bichette, for one, might be ready to bust out. He came into Sunday’s game in an uncharacteristic funk, hitting .208 (5-for-24) on the road trip with only two RBIs. But he was all over Seattle’s pitchers Sunday, and his homer off reliever Penn Murfee was his 14th of the season.

“That's another bright side that happened today,” Montoyo said. “He's been struggling a little bit this road trip, but he had a good game today.”

Phelps, a veteran presence in the clubhouse, said the Blue Jays are too good of a team to let these current doldrums eat them up.

“I fully believe this is about the time we're going to start winning baseball games,” Phelps said. “At the end of the day, we're in a playoff spot. I think that's something to realize, ‘OK, we haven't played nearly up to our ability, but that just means that the future is brighter once we start really all get clicking.'

“I think we're on the precipice of that.”