ST. PETERSBURG -- Despite entering Tuesday’s game 20 games over .500, the Rays found themselves searching for answers as they try to piece together a pitching rotation that has been decimated by injuries.

Over the next couple of weeks, most of the attention will focus on the performances of the pitchers who can give Tampa Bay length, at least until Blake Snell and Yonny Chirinos are able to return to the mound.

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After Brendan McKay struggled during Monday’s loss to the Mariners, the Rays turned to Jalen Beeks to provide quality innings on Tuesday. But the left-hander continued his recent struggles as Tampa Bay lost, 7-4, to Seattle at Tropicana Field, securing a series loss and, at best, a .500 six-game homestand if it avoids a sweep Wednesday.

“We’re not playing good baseball right now,” Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said. “I think it all stems from our offense. We just don’t have a lot of guys locked in right now, to be quite honest. We haven’t gotten a whole lot of guys on base lately, and our pitching has been a little bit more human here the last four or five games.”

The pitching has looked that way because the Rays are battling a plethora of injuries and aren’t getting consistent production from some of their other pitchers. With Snell and Chirinos sidelined by injuries for at least another couple of weeks and McKay back at Triple-A Durham to work on his mechanics after back-to-back tough starts, Tampa Bay is going to rely on pitchers like Beeks, Trevor Richards and Ryan Yarbrough to provide length and quality innings whenever their numbers are called upon.

Beeks has been dealing with command issues over the past month, which has caused his pitch count to spike early in games. That was the main culprit again on Tuesday. Beeks allowed four runs (two earned) in five innings and walked three -- all coming in the last two innings of his outing, contributing to four Mariners runs.

“I thought there was some promise early on,” manager Kevin Cash said. “It looked like he was throwing the ball with a little bit more conviction, willing to throw it over the plate; then a couple plays came on, couple baserunners came on, and things started to take a toll. Maybe lost command, fell behind, and they came up and got some big hits.”

Beeks threw a season-high 93 pitches and recorded 12 swings and misses. Seattle was able to foul off 21 of his offerings.

Over his past four outings, Beeks is 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA over 17 2/3 innings. Since returning to the big league club on July 16, Beeks has a 6.91 ERA, and he has not gone more than five innings in any of his seven outings.

At a time when the Rays need him more than at any point this season, Beeks knows those numbers need to improve.

“I’m frustrated with the walks. That’s really unacceptable to me,” Beeks said. “I gotta step up. That’s just the bottom line. I just have to give my team a chance to win when I get in the game.”

Tampa Bay’s offense, which has been struggling, took a small step in the right direction, scoring four runs on eight hits and spotting Beeks a 4-2 lead through four innings. That lead, however, was erased quickly, as the Mariners scored two in the fifth. Tom Murphy delivered the big blow with a two-run home run in the sixth to give Seattle the lead.

“It’s just kind of been the same thing over and over again,” Beeks said. “But I’m going to keep battling, and I’m going to keep putting in the work and hopefully help this team get some wins down the stretch.”

With the next five games being against teams with losing records, the Rays will look to get better performances from their pitching options. They are going to have to find answers quickly as they find themselves in a tight American League Wild Card race with the A’s and Indians.

“Most of us just play better when we have that confidence going and kind of that swagger throughout the whole lineup, we feed off that,” Kiermaier said. “Right now, we just don’t have that kind of momentum going for us, and it’s tough. We’re in a tough situation, but we all know that we control our own destiny, and we all have to find ways to be better.”