The Seattle Mariners suffered a very difficult 6-4 loss against the Athletics on Monday night at T-Mobile Park.

The M's led the game 3-0, but weren't able to hold the lead, and the game ended up tied at 3-3 in the sixth inning. The A's added three runs in the eighth inning to make it 6-3 before the M's mounted a mini-comeback in the ninth inning. However, with the tying run on second and one out, neither J.P. Crawford nor Cal Raleigh could deliver, sending the M's to another tough loss.

The Mariners are just 10-14 overall and serve as one of the most disappointing teams in the league so far.

If you go on Mariners social media, you'll see a lot of hand-ringing about this performance, and a lot of it is justified, so let's dive in.

If you're asking me what the biggest culprit for the loss was, it was the Mariners' inability to add on offensively.

Seattle had a 3-0 lead in the second inning, but they missed multiple chances for early knockout punches and slept walk through most of the middle innings.

Leading 2-0 in the first, Seattle had a runner at second and one out, but Randy Arozarena grounded out to shortstop and Luke Raley struck out. Leading 3-0 in the third, the M's had a runner at second and one out, but Arozarena and Raley both struck out.

Still 3-1 in the fourth, the M's had a runner at second and nobody out, and a runner at third with one out, but Leo Rivas and JP Crawford weren't able to get him in from third.

In the eighth, trailing 6-3, the Mariners had runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out, but Arozarena struck out and Rob Refsnyder flew out.

Down 6-4 in the ninth, the M's failed to tie the game despite Crawford and Raleigh having chances.

All told, the Mariners were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. That's not going to get it done against most teams, but especially not a team with an offense like the A's.

The M's also allowed starter JT Ginn to pitch into the sixth inning, failing to get more chances at a weak A's bullpen.

As usual, the fanbase is up in arms over the latest managerial pinch-hitting decision. With one out and nobody on in the bottom of the sixth inning, Wilson pinch-hit Refsynder for Raley. Refsnyder struck out and Raley was burned for the big situation in the eighth.

I'm on record as saying I don't mind if Raley (.182 vs. LHP in his career) is being pinch-hit for, and I don't mind it happening in the sixth inning, regardless of what might be coming later. Raley had also already struck out twice in big spots, so there's no guarantee that he would have succeeded in the eighth either.

However, in a situation where there's 1-out and nobody on, and Refsynder's at-bat only becomes a difference maker via a home run? That isn't the best time to deploy him. I don't ever want to punt a scoring opportunity, but that wasn't a high-leverage situation enough to burn Raley, even if he'd been struggling to that point.

Casey Legumina gave up three runs in the eighth inning to suffer the loss. Legumina is not a high-leverage reliever, and this was his first appearance in a game that was tied or the M's were winning all season.

That said, the taxing nature of the previous series caught up to the M's. Andres Munoz had to work both Saturday and Sunday. So did Gabe Speier. Eduard Bazardo had worked three of the last five games.

The Mariners haven't had an off day for 11 days at this point. The bullpen finally caught up with them, and it didn't help that Jose Ferrer's expanded sixth inning turned the lineup over quicker, forcing Matt Brash into the game in the seventh, not the eighth.

Sometimes, that's just the hand you're dealt, but had the offense done it's job earlier, none of it would have mattered.

The bullpen was taxed. Hancock gave only five full innings. The team could have used six, and it didn't help that he surrendered two homers in the sixth to eliminate the lead that he was given.

Every single thing that happens in a baseball game adds up and it all contributes to a win or a loss. None of the things mentioned above helped the Mariners win, but the biggest issue is clearly the lack of ability to get the big hit, something that has eluded the Mariners much of the season.

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