MINNEAPOLIS _ Down a run going into their final at-bat, the Mariners had their three best hitters coming to the plate and even got a gift from the Twins.
In the end, they wandered off the field having failed to find a way to pull out a win in a 3-2 loss to the lowly Twins.
It was a bad loss for the Mariners against the worst team in baseball.
Seattle put the tying and go-ahead runs on base when Robinson Cano led off with a single and Nelson Cruz reached first when third baseman Miguel Sano bobbled a routine double-play ball.
With runners on first and second, Kyle Seager gave Sano a chance at redemption. His high chopper to third allowed Sano to grab the ball, step on third and fire to first for a double play. With Cruz on second, Adam Lind popped out to end the game.
The loss dropped Seattle to 81-73 and provided a gut punch to their postseason hopes.
The Twins got all three runs against Mariners starter Ariel Miranda, while Seattle's offense that looked resurgent Friday did little a day later.
Miranda pitched four innings, giving up three runs on three hits with a walk and no strikeouts. But his fastball lacked the command and crispness of his previous outing. With an expanded and rested bullpen, manager Scott Servais lifted Miranda early and went to his relievers. They did a solid job of keeping the deficit to one run, but the Mariner offense could never come through.
The Mariners' two runs came on one violent, powerful swing from Nelson Cruz.
With Robinson Cano on first base, Cruz crushed a 3-2 fastball into the third deck in left field. MLB Statcast measured the blast at 493 feet, the second longest this season behind Giancarlo Stanton's blast of 505 feet.
More important, it tied the game at 2-2.
But the game wouldn't remain tied for long.
The Twins retook the lead one pitch into the bottom of the inning. Sano ambushed the first-pitch _ a fastball _ from Miranda to start the inning, yanking it over the wall in left field for his 24th homer of the season.
That the Mariners only mustered two runs against Tyler Duffey was an issue. The right-hander pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts. The grind-it-out at-bats from the night before were replaced by rolled over ground balls and weak fly balls.
What's more indicative was Duffey came into the game having given up 22 runs (19 earned) on 24 hits over 15 1/3 innings in his previous four starts for an 11.15 ERA.
