In the end, the Orioles were never able to get their offense right.

After trying for months to jump-start an underperforming lineup, the Orioles’ season ended Wednesday with a 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 2 of the American League wild-card series at Camden Yards.

Injuries to their pitching staff threatened to derail their season before it even began and continued to be a theme deep into the summer, but it was the offense that went missing down the stretch and into October as Baltimore was swept in the best-of-three series after scoring only one run in two games.

“When you lose like this, there’s frustration, there’s anger, there’s disappointment because you felt like there was opportunities there in those couple games to change the score and it didn’t happen,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

“I’m proud of our team. I thought we had a really good first half. Things were going well. Second half, we had a lot of bumps in the road. I thought we battled as well as we possibly could. We persevered. We got into the postseason. We hosted a wild card. We just had a tough time offensively these two games against a really good pitching staff and a scrappy team.”

Coming off a 1-0 shutout loss to upstart Kansas City in Game 1, the Orioles were looking everywhere for a spark. Cedric Mullins, one of the lone bright spots for the home team in the short series, did give them one with a solo home run off Royals starter Seth Lugo in the fifth inning, offering hope a turnaround was still possible. Yet the Orioles responded by squandering a no-outs, bases-loaded opportunity and never came close to plating a run again.

The frustration was evident, among both Orioles players and the 36,898 fans, the lowest attendance for any playoff game hosted at Camden Yards since the ballpark opened in 1992. As each potential rally ended with a swing that just missed catching the ball on the barrel or a highlight-reel play by a Royals defender, the reality that an early offseason was closing in was greeted by the Orioles with slammed bats and helmets.

“I feel terrible,” said Ryan O’Hearn, who had a would-be RBI single taken away on a diving stop by Massey in the fourth. “Terrible for our fans and feel like we let them down. Just sucks. Seems like, obviously we didn’t score runs and we didn’t get any big hits when we needed to and just feel terrible about it.”

Wednesday’s loss is the Orioles’ 10th straight in the postseason dating to the 2014 American League Championship Series, which the Royals swept in four games. The streak is tied for the fourth longest in MLB history and trails only the Minnesota Twins’ record 18-game stretch for the longest of the 21st century.

Starter Zach Eflin carried the unenviable burden of following up Corbin Burnes, who tossed eight-plus innings of one-run baseball in Game 1. Eflin ran into trouble immediately, allowing a leadoff double to second baseman Michael Massey. Superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. moved Massey to third on a groundout one pitch later and designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino brought him home on an RBI single to give Kansas City a quick 1-0 lead.

That score held through the rest of Eflin’s outing, which lasted only four innings and 75 pitches as manager Brandon Hyde put his well-rested bullpen to work. He mixed and matched his relievers to set up favorable platoon advantages, and it paid off in four of the five final innings. Cionel Pérez was charged with allowing the winning run after putting runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the sixth.

With Witt Jr., who drove in the lone run of Game 1, due up next, Hyde turned to right-hander Yennier Cano, his go-to reliever in the biggest moments all season. Cano threw a 1-1 sinker down in the zone and Witt hit a ground ball right up the middle.

Jordan Westburg made a diving play to stop the ball from reaching the outfield but couldn’t get up quickly enough to beat Witt on the throw to first. While a quick flip to second for the force out might have saved a run, Massey was running from first with two outs and it would’ve been close either way.

“Witt is fast,” Westburg said. “I got to the ball and made a stop. It’s kind of sandwiched in between dirt and my glove. Didn’t pick it clean right away. Probably took an extra half second to kind of get my feet underneath me and try and get off a throw and he was too fast. Yeah, I want to make that play. It’s a tough play. I’m trying not to beat myself up over that.”

For the second afternoon in a row, a one-run lead was all the Royals would need. The Orioles went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine base runners, none more crushing than the three left on base in the fifth. After Mullins’ home run, Ramón Urías reached on a single to center field, Gunnar Henderson walked and Westburg reached on an error by Lugo.

There was nobody out, the stadium was as loud as it was all evening. The momentum had shifted to the Orioles’ favor. But in keeping consistent with their past three months of mediocre play, the Orioles never got the big hit to put them in front. Anthony Santander popped out on a fastball above the strike zone as the final batter Lugo faced. Left-hander Angel Zerpa then struck out Colton Cowser, who was hit in the left hand while swinging and eventually had to leave the game with a broken hand, before Adley Rutschman grounded out to end the inning.

“We know the type of offense that we are and it just wasn’t on our side,” Santander said through Orioles team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I think we didn’t succeed with runners in scoring position, especially myself. Very disappointed knowing that I could’ve done a better job for the team but that’s just the way it went with the offense.”

It was a familiar outcome for the Orioles, yet a crushing one. Their promising core of young stars has yet to perform on the October stage, and a second-half slump that cost them a chance at defending their AL East crown — and the bye to the division series that comes with it — raises plenty of questions about what needs to change for them to get over the playoff hump in 2025.

“I think our coaching staff, our guys, they have a good process,” Rutschman said. “We went through our ups and downs this season. This team is capable of a lot. I know that we’ve shown that time in and time out. We’ve had our ups and downs, but I think this group is relentless. I think you’re going to see an improved group next year. They don’t take any time off, these guys will get right back to work. I know I’m going to be excited to see what we got come spring training.”

But those are questions for the months ahead. Their stinging loss Wednesday brought a swift end to what started as a season full of hope, ignited by new a ownership group led by David Rubenstein and reinforced with an impressive start to the year. As Henderson, their beacon of promise for the years ahead, struck out for the final out to end the Orioles’ season, a harsh reminder of how elusive a World Series can be finally hit them.

The core has arrived. The playoff success has yet to follow.

Baltimore Sun reporter Sam Cohn contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/ByMattWeyrich.