With how the Orioles’ season has gone, the way in which their best chance to rally ended Thursday afternoon came as no surprise.

Boston Red Sox starter and American League Cy Young Award contender Garrett Crochet was his usual self for the first four innings, limiting the Orioles to just one run on four hits. Baltimore finally strung a few hits together in the fifth, tying the game on an RBI double by Jeremiah Jackson that put two runners in scoring position with no outs and provided a prime opportunity to take the lead.

Instead, Gunnar Henderson struck out to bring up Ryan Mountcastle, who hit a rocket to the left side that might have gotten through had the Red Sox been playing their infield back. Shortstop Trevor Story instead snagged the screaming liner with a dive to his left and Jackson Holliday, running on contact at third base, was doubled off easily to end the frame.

“One hundred percent of the teams in the league, the way they run contact, is if they hit a line drive, you will be doubled off at third base,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said in defense of Holliday’s decision. “If you’re trying to read the ball on the ground to an infielder, you’re going to be thrown out at the plate. All 100[%] teams that run contact, they will get doubled off on a line drive.”

The Red Sox later broke the tie on first baseman Romy Gonzalez’s RBI single off Rico García in the eighth to beat the Orioles, 3-2, on Thursday and sweep the series, handing Baltimore its fourth straight loss and seventh in its past eight games.

Cade Povich held his own opposite Crochet, allowing solo home runs to Story and designated hitter Rob Refsnyder but otherwise putting together a strong five-inning performance to lower his ERA to 5.04. The left-hander struck out five and allowed seven hits with no walks — just his third start without a free pass allowed this season.

“They were pretty aggressive out of the gate, which honestly kind of matched my game plan going in,” Povich said. “I told [catcher Alex Jackson] basically, ‘Let’s just see how quick we can get at-bats over with. Who cares about what the result is? Let’s just get guys up, let’s get ’em out, let’s try and be efficient.’ Turns out the first one went that way. Second, kind of dug myself in the hole, but I think the rest of the way the game plan kind of stuck and was a lot better.”

But the Orioles’ bullpen faltered once again. After Keegan Akin blew a save opportunity in Boston’s win by the same score Wednesday night, García entered the eighth with the score tied at 2 and a leadoff walk by Roman Anthony came back to haunt him. Anthony moved to second on a groundout before scoring on Gonzalez’s line drive single with two outs.

It was also another quiet game for the Orioles’ offense, which is averaging two runs over its past five games. Alex Jackson hit a solo home run to left-center field in the third and Jeremiah Jackson collected his second hit of the game with his RBI double in the sixth, but that was it for the Orioles (60-74) as they finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

“We had pretty good at-bats up and down,” Henderson said. “He’s a pretty good pitcher. It’s why he’s one of the best in the game. But I felt like up and down the lineup, we had pretty good at-bats and gave ourselves a chance to win today.”

However, another play on the base paths might have cost them a run in the ninth. Dylan Carlson led off the frame with a double to get into scoring position but made an aggressive dash to third on a ground ball right at him. Story, in position a few feet deeper into the infield from Carlson, fielded the ball cleanly and made a quick throw to third to beat him.

“It was just very unfortunate that Story is right there,” Mansolino said. “DC can not feel that he’s staying right there behind him. There’s a ball to his left, he goes, you tip your cap to Trevor Story, made two game-saving plays for them today.”

Kade Strowd pitched two scoreless innings in relief to lower his ERA to 1.76 and Shawn Dubin set the Red Sox down in order in the top of the ninth for a clean Orioles debut.

Postgame analysis

The Orioles’ lineup is a shell of what it was before the trade deadline, but Thursday’s dominant performance by Crochet illustrated exactly why right-handed hitting needs to be near the top of their shopping list once again this offseason.

Baltimore thought it was getting a solution to its struggles against left-handers when it signed Tyler O’Neill last winter, but injuries have made him a nonfactor for most of the year. O’Neill will get the opportunity to redeem himself next year assuming he opts into the final two years of his $49.5 million deal. Yet the Orioles’ lineup will still skew left-handed, and they’ll need at least one outfielder to help cover left field and step in to play every day if O’Neill gets hurt again.

If it sounds as if the Orioles already had a solution to that problem, that’s because they did. Ramón Laureano would’ve been a strong fit for that role had they not traded him to the San Diego Padres at the deadline. But without him, the Orioles are once again on the market for a right-handed outfielder and they might have to pay up again even with O’Neill on the roster.

What they’re saying

Henderson on what the Orioles stand to gain from playing a tough schedule to close out the season:

“Just continue to keep fighting. I feel like we’ve played some good baseball, it’s just, haven’t come through in the end. Being able to come through in those spots is going to be big.”

By the numbers

During their ongoing five-game slump, the Orioles are 4-for-33 (.121) with runners in scoring position. Their .329 OPS in such situations is worse than the on-base percentage of 13 teams across MLB over that span and no other club has more than their 14 strikeouts.

On deck

The Orioles are headed to the West Coast for a six-game road trip against a pair of National League West foes in the San Francisco Giants and Padres. Before Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn get the chance to face their former team in San Diego, the Orioles hit the Bay Area for a weekend series with Dean Kremer, Trevor Rogers and Tomoyuki Sugano lined up to start.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich.