Seattle fell to 5-15 for the month Thursday when Miguel Batista got beat up early and the offense did almost nothing for nine innings in a 9-2 loss to Detroit.

The Mariners have the worst record in the American League at 18-30 and are further out of first place than any team in the league.

"I look at it, and I just don't understand it," McLaren said. "I really don't. The only scenario that could be worse than what's going on right now is if we didn't prepare and we didn't play hard. If that was the case, it would be unbearable."

McLaren said the problem is the Mariners haven't played three clean games in a row in at least a month.

"What I mean is solid pitching, timely hitting and good defense," McLaren said. "We've had breakdowns in one or two of those areas, and sometimes in all three.

"I stay up late at night thinking about it. Why would we have breakdowns in a couple of areas, and the next day we break down in another area and the others are good?"

TIGERS 9, MARINERS 2: Miguel Batista was victimized by a three-run homer that just barely cleared the left field fence in the second inning, and he was out of the game after three innings.

The Mariners didn't get any better after Batista left, with R.A. Dickey, just called up from the minors, and Sean Green each giving up two runs.

Offensively, the Mariners were 2-for-14 with men in scoring position, and one of the hits, a single by Jose Lopez, didn't produce a run.