If the Seattle Mariners are going to make a long-awaited playoff push, the time is now.

The Mariners (66-74) open a four-game series with the visiting Athletics on Thursday night trailing Houston by five games in the American League West. Seattle is 4 1/2 back of Cleveland in the race for the league's third and final wild-card spot.

There's reason for a bit of optimism, however.

After four straight losses, the Mariners closed their six-game trip to Toronto and Boston with a pair of victories over the Red Sox. They posted a 9-6 win Tuesday as Lazaro Montes homered in his major-league debut, and 8-3 on Wednesday.

A two-game winning streak generally wouldn't create much buzz, but there are other reasons why the Mariners aren't out of the race quite yet:

--Of their 22 remaining games, 19 are against AL West competition;

--Twenty of those contests are against teams that are currently below .500 (the exception is two home games against the Astros, who currently are 71-69).

--They have 17 games remaining against the A's (54-86), Los Angeles Angels (53-87) and Colorado (54-86), the teams with the worst three records in the major leagues.

"Everyone knows what's at stake right now. We gotta go," veteran Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford said after going 3-for-3 and scoring twice Wednesday. "Hopefully this series gets the boys going."

After blowing a late three-run lead against the Red Sox on Monday and losing 9-8 in extra innings, the Mariners seemed to adopt a different attitude the past two days.

"I think we all feel urgency right now," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. "... Our guys got a good taste of (offensive success) here in this series, and that's what we're going to expect as we go back. We have to. We're in this situation, and urgency is of the essence."

The A's snapped a five-game skid with a 9-2 victory Wednesday at Texas as rookie Henry Bolte went 3-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs. Teammates Zack Gelof, Jonah Heim and Alika Williams also went deep.

"This kid has done a great job for us since he's been called up," A's manager Mark Kotsay said of Bolte, the franchise's second-round pick in 2022. "He's continuing to get better and make improvements. Getting the ball in the air today to the opposite side, if he can do that [consistently], there's a lot of great things ahead of him."

In Thursday's series opener, the A's are scheduled to send right-hander Jack Perkins (3-10, 6.42 ERA) to the mound against Mariners lefty Kade Anderson (0-0, 4.50).

Perkins returned to the rotation Saturday against visiting Baltimore and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits over five innings of a 5-3 loss. He walked four and struck out five. Perkins is 0-0 with a 3.12 ERA in three career relief appearances against Seattle.

Anderson, the Mariners' prized pitching prospect, will be making his third career start and first against the A's.

He was charged with two runs on three hits over 4 1/3 innings Saturday at Toronto in a game the Mariners eventually lost 4-3. He left with a 3-0 lead, however, before relievers allowed a pair of inherited runners to score.

"This week is important for (Mariners)," Kotsay said. "They'll be really competitive games. There's a lot to gain for our young guys by going through it."

--Field Level Media