Mariners manager Scott Servais says he tries to forget tough losses, but it’s not always easy

Some losses are worse than others, and the Mariners’ 6-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night was one of the bad ones.

The team blew a 4-0 lead through five innings and missed out on some good scoring opportunities. It no doubt seemed like a game the Mariners should have won, but they didn’t.

“You try to forget it as quickly as you can, but any time you lose a game where you have a lead, you are going to think about it a little bit,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais. “I said to one of the coaches last night, ‘We only have 35 more games to play this season.’ We’re not going to win all 35, and almost every game you lose you’re going to look back and say, ‘If only we had done this better, if only we had gotten this to happen.’

“But we have to move forward and get ready to play today’s game. That is the beauty of baseball. You play every day and you got to let it go.”

Servais said he thinks losses linger more for a manager than they do for the players.

“Players forget about it in a second,” he said. “That’s how I was as a player, and I suspect that is how our guys are.”

Justus Sheffield struggles in relief at Tacoma

Justus Sheffield’s transition to relief work did not go well Thursday with Class AAA Tacoma. He allowed three runs — two earned — on three hits and a walk in just one inning against the Salt Lake Bees.

“Listening to the report, maybe he wasn’t as sharp as he would have hoped he would be last night, and fell behind in the count a little bit more than is typically good to do,” Servais said.

Sheffield, who has been on the injured list since July 7 with a left forearm strain, seems ticketed for the bullpen when he returns to the Mariners. His rehab assignment with Tacoma has not gone well, as he has an earned-run average of 11.57 in three games — two starts — over 6 1/3 innings.

Servais said he expects Sheffield to get one or two more relief appearances with Tacoma, and then the team will evaluate what to do from there.

Matt Andriese shines in M’s debut

Reliever Matt Andriese made a good first impression with the Mariners, pitching a clean inning Thursday night against Kansas City and striking out a pair of Royals. Andriese had not pitched in the big leagues since July 6 with Boston.

“I liked what I saw out of Andriese,” Servais said. “I thought he threw the ball really well.”

Andriese’s previous outing came Aug. 14 in a Class AAA game in a rehab assignment with Boston before being designated for assignment by the Red Sox.

Andriese, 31, a one-time starter with the Tampa Bay Rays, is 28-37 for his career with a 4.67 ERA.

Note

Lefty reliever Sean Doolittle, who was claimed off waivers from Cincinnati on Thursday, was added to the Mariners’ active roster, and right-handed reliever Wyatt Mills was optioned to Class AAA Tacoma.