SEATTLE -- When the Twins left Anaheim on Sunday after splitting their four-game series with the Angels, there was a feeling of optimism in the clubhouse.

The Twins felt they could have picked up victories in each of the final two contests at Angel Stadium, but the consensus was that they had competed head-to-head with one of the best teams in the American League.

And even after losing for the first time when entering the ninth with a lead on Monday night, the Twins took solace that in each of their three consecutive losses they had a good chance of pulling out a win.

Still, the sense of feeling good about just having an opportunity to win can only last so long, right?

The Twins might be on the verge of finding that out. On Tuesday night, Minnesota once again looked like it could pull off a "W" but was unable to complete its late-inning comeback in a 3-2 loss to the Mariners at Safeco Field.

Although it may seem like the Twins have been just this close to starting the road trip 6-0 rather than 2-4, first baseman Justin Morneau said the team hasn't done what it did early in the season. And that's figure out ways to pull off victories in tight games.

"I don't think we've played very well," Morneau said. "Fundamentally, we've made a lot of mistakes. Not moving runners over, not getting guys in when normally that's our game.

"We've had a chance to win all these games but it's not like we've been playing great baseball. It's not like we've deserved them. They are games we should win but not games we've been winning."

Playing their third series against the Mariners this month, the Twins have struggled to get things going against a Seattle team that holds the worst record in the American League.

On Tuesday night, the Twins fell into yet another early hole. Making his third start in three weeks against Seattle, Scott Baker found trouble shutting down the middle of the lineup.

Baker gave up three runs to the Mariners, two of which came in the second inning. Baker issued a leadoff walk to Raul Ibanez, and Jose Lopez followed with a double to left field that put runners at second third with no outs. Jeff Clement singled on a hard-hit ball up the middle that deflected off Baker's glove into center field, scoring Ibanez and Lopez to give Seattle a 2-0 lead.

"I felt like I had pretty good stuff tonight," Baker said. "You see these guys three times, you aren't going to fool them. It basically comes down to executing pitches, and you know, some I executed and some I didn't."

Despite working his way out of another jam in the fourth, Baker (7-4) managed to keep it a two-run game until the sixth, when Minnesota came back to knot the score at 2.

Alexi Casilla's bunt single led off the second inning, and he advanced to second on a throwing error by Mariners starter Ryan Rowland-Smith. After advancing to third on a Joe Mauer single, Casilla then scored when Morneau grounded into a double play. Randy Ruiz's two-out solo homer to right field later in the inning, his first Major League home run, tied the score.

But that tie would be very short-lived. In the bottom of the sixth, a leadoff double by Adrian Beltre proved costly when he scored on Lopez's RBI single to left field to make it a 3-2 Mariners lead.

"The difficult part about it was when we finally break through and tie the ballgame back up, and we go out the next inning and give it right back," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That always deflates you."

The Twins never really had a scoring threat after the sixth and were left to lament earlier scoring opportunities that went wasted.

In three of the first four innings, the leadoff hitters reached base off Rowland-Smith and not one was able to score. Most frustrating perhaps was Morneau's leadoff double in the fourth, when the ensuing batters were unable to even move him over to third.

"We felt like we had some opportunities to score some runs, like Morneau on second base with no outs and I couldn't get him over," Ruiz said. "I rolled over to short and he stayed at second. Everybody else couldn't get him over either. But I should been moving him over so somebody could drive him in. I felt like I didn't do my part."

So perhaps it's a case of some of the young hitters pressing with the team in the midst of a pennant chase?

"No, I just don't think we've had enough energy or playing with enough enthusiasm," Morneau said. "We need to go out and make things happen instead of sitting back and hoping we are going to do it,."

The loss dropped the Twins to two games back to Chicago in the American League Central race after the White Sox defeated Baltimore, 8-3, earlier in the day.

After suffering four straight close losses, the question for the Twins becomes have they reached the point yet where being that close to a win isn't enough?

"No, because if we had a chance to win, we had a chance," Baker said. "We would like to pull these games out. I wouldn't say they are must win games just yet but they are getting pretty close. So, it's kind of a case we are doing the best we can and we feel things will eventually work out."