What a difference a week makes. Unfortunately for the Seattle Mariners, it hasn’t been a good one.

On Aug. 11, the Mariners were tied with the Houston Astros for first in the American League West and were 2 1/2 back of the final wild-card berth.

Entering Sunday, they’ve lost five in a row, are four behind the Astros and 5 1/2 out of a wild card, and are looking to avoid being swept by the host Pittsburgh Pirates in the series finale of a three-game set on Sunday.

“Stay strong and keep pushing forward,” Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez said. “Obviously, it’s tough right now. But I feel like if you believe in yourself, it doesn’t matter how you want to look at it, you can get out of whatever it is that you’re in.”

The Mariners tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning and pulled within 3-2 in the fifth on Saturday before the Pirates pulled away to hand them a 7-2 loss. It marked the fourth time in the past five games Seattle scored two runs or fewer; the other time, the opener Friday, the Mariners scored three.

“We’re not playing good baseball. There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” manager Scott Servais said after his club struck out 14 times Saturday.

George Kirby (8-9, 3.42 ERA) will get the nod for the Mariners, looking to rebound after giving up a career-high 11 runs (six earned) in a 15-1 loss to the Tigers on Tuesday. The righty yielded seven runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings last season in his lone career appearance against Pittsburgh.

The Pirates head into the series finale Sunday eyeing their first three-game winning streak since July 28-30 and their first series sweep since claiming all three against the Chicago White Sox from July 12-14.

“It feels nice,” Oneil Cruz said. “The main thing here is we never lost our focus. Things were not going our way for a little bit, but today and yesterday we showed that as a team, we’re still playing good baseball.”

The bats have been clicking in the first two games, putting up 12 runs against a Seattle pitching staff that entered the game Saturday with the best team-wide ERA in the majors.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been a big part of it, going 3-for-4 with a homer and scoring twice on Saturday as he stepped into the leadoff spot with Andrew McCutchen placed on the 10-day injured list (left knee inflammation).

He’s been a solid addition to Pittsburgh’s lineup, hitting .296 in 13 games since being acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays before the trade deadline.

“It’s been nice to be somewhere where I feel I’m needed and wanted,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I’m really excited to help these young guys because I feel like this team is really, really good and has the pieces to have something special here.”

The Pirates will be hoping for a solid outing from Jake Woodford (0-4, 5.87), who will make his first career appearance against Seattle.

–Field Level Media