For the first time since May 12, they no longer sit alone atop the American League West standings.
The 10-game lead they’d built up in the division standings on June 18 has been erased in about a month.
And though fans need no reminders of the foibles and first-half failures of this very flawed team, the Mariners couldn’t help but offer a refresher of what makes them so aggravating to watch and so impossible to believe in their first-half success.
Facing the Houston Astros, the team they are trying to stave off in the division and the owners of the AL West for the last decade, the Mariners were held scoreless in a 3-0 loss.
With the loss the Mariners fall to 52-47 while the Astros improved to 51-46, leaving the two teams tied for first place in the division.
A crowd of 40,948 filled T-Mobile Park on a perfect Friday evening to watch the opener of a crucial series between the two rivals. They watched the Mariners get shut out for the sixth time this season.
Seattle mustered just four hits on the night and got just one hit — a bunt single from Victor Robles — over the final six innings.
Luis Castillo gave the Mariners a workable if not dominant start against one of the more prolific offenses in baseball. Castillo pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts. It was the Mariners’ 59th quality start of the season.