Chicago White Sox strike out 16 times for 2nd straight game in 3-2 loss — their 3rd 1-run defeat in their last 5 games

Andrew Benintendi entered the visiting dugout in the sixth inning Friday, where he momentarily received the silent treatment.

The Chicago White Sox left fielder had just circled the bases after hitting his first homer of the season.

Teammates eventually all greeted Benintendi with high-fives. Not only was the wait over, but the home run gave the Sox the lead. Briefly.

The Seattle Mariners tied it up in the home half of the sixth and went ahead in the seventh on a solo homer by Teoscar Hernández to beat the Sox 3-2 in front of 36,061 at T-Mobile Park.

Starter Michael Kopech and reliever Tanner Banks worked out of several jams to keep the game close. But the only scoring for the Sox came via solo homers by Gavin Sheets and Benintendi.

“We have six homers in the last two days, solo,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “I like the fact that we’re hitting homers, now we’ve got to find ways to put up crooked numbers. We do that, we’ll be in good shape with the pitching we’ve got.”

The Sox struck out 16 times for the second straight game. Besides the homers, they had three more hits — singles by Sheets, Tim Anderson and Eloy Jiménez — and didn’t draw a walk.

“They have some good pitching today,” Grifol said. “They ran some good arms out there. We’re doing some better things, elevating the baseball. We just have to continue to work and cut down the strikeouts, mix in a few walks in there and get some crooked numbers on the board.”

The Sox (30-41) have lost five of six, but still remain 5 1/2 games out of first place in an American League Central, where the division-leading Minnesota Twins are at .500 (35-35).

Kopech faced challenges early when the first two Mariners batters reached in the first. Second baseman Elvis Andrus fielded Ty France’s hard-hit grounder and turned it into a double play. Kopech then got Hernández to pop out to Andrus.

The second was another test as the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs. Kopech struck out the next two and got J.P. Crawford to groundout to Andrus.

The Sox took a 1-0 lead on the homer by Sheets in the fifth.

Hernández tied it in the bottom of the fifth on a well-executed hit-and-run. Julio Rodríguez attempted to steal third and Jake Burger went to cover the bag. Hernández hit the ball where Burger had just vacated for the game-tying double.

“(Burger) probably has to hold a little bit, but it’s a tough play because if he swings and misses, where he’s playing, he might not have got there in time,” Grifol said.

Kopech left after walking the next two batters. He allowed one run on six hits with four strikeouts and six walks in 4 1/2 innings.

“We worked out of some sticky situations, but ultimately I knew what was needed of me today and I didn’t execute it,” Kopech said. “I needed to go long and I did about as poor of a job of that as I can. Six walks, giving away free bases, kept myself in high pitch counts every inning.”

The Mariners had a chance for more in the inning, loading the bases with one out. Banks entered and struck out Cal Raleigh and got AJ Pollock to popout to catcher Seby Zavala.

“Attack, but not make anything too good,” Banks said of his approach. “Trust my stuff. I’ve got a good connection with Seby, so trust in him and sticking to my strengths.”

The Sox responded with the homer by Benintendi in the sixth. The outfielder, who signed a five-year contract in the offseason, has been dealing with a sore right hand for a period of time.

The Mariners tied it again with an RBI single by France in the sixth. Hernández broke the tie with the homer in the seventh. Banks allowed two runs on four hits with four strikeouts while providing some length in his 2⅔ innings for a what’s been a busy bullpen.

“A couple of pitches I want back, but learn from it and grow and build moving forward,” Banks said. “To be able to give (other relievers) a little bit of a break is big.”

The Sox held the Mariners to 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position, but suffered their third one-run loss in their last five games.

Sox place Mike Clevinger on the IL

Stater Mike Clevinger went on the 15-day injured list with right biceps inflammation, the Sox announced Friday. The move is retroactive to Thursday.

The right-hander left Wednesday’s outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning with right biceps soreness.

“It’s erring on the side of caution,” Grifol said before Friday’s game. “We’re not going to rush him into anything. We’re going to make sure that everything is going in the right direction before we send him out there.

“Everything we’ve gotten back has been better news than any of us have anticipated when you see a guy go down like that. Everything we’ve gotten back has been OK. We’ll see how he progresses.”

The Sox recalled Jesse Scholtens from Triple-A Charlotte. He pitched a scoreless inning Friday.