LOS ANGELES — August is nearly over. The Orioles’ offensive woes are not.

One swing by Colton Cowser made it a game, but the rest of Baltimore’s lineup tallied only three singles as the Dodgers hung on for a 6-3 win Thursday night to take two of three in the midweek series. It marked the fifth straight game the Orioles have scored four runs or fewer, tying their longest streak of the past two seasons.

Baltimore (77-58) has struggled to reclaim its offensive success of the first half, posting a .683 OPS in August for its worst mark of any month since March/April 2022. Though Colton Cowser’s 20th home run of the season — a three-run shot in the fifth inning that tied him for the MLB rookie lead — prevented the Orioles from being stuck with their sixth shutout loss of the season, their frustration at the plate was evident.

Shortstop Gunnar Henderson had an opportunity to get the Orioles back in the game in the seventh, when Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson loaded the bases on a single by Jackson Holliday and back-to-back walks. Manager Dave Roberts brought in right-hander Blake Treinen to face Henderson with two outs, and the at-bat ended with Henderson swinging through a cutter above the strike zone and slamming his bat into the dirt.

Los Angeles starter Bobby Miller, who entered the game with a 7.49 ERA this season, earned his first MLB win since March 29 by outdueling the struggling Cade Povich. The Orioles’ rookie lasted only 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on 10 hits — five of which left Dodger bats at exit velocities over 95 mph — with a walk and three strikeouts.

Povich labored through each of the four frames he appeared in, stranding five runners over the first three innings before unraveling in the fourth. He allowed three straight hits to open the inning, including consecutive doubles by second baseman Gavin Lux and catcher Austin Barnes. Povich then gave up an RBI single to right fielder Mookie Betts and walked left fielder Teoscar Hernández to get the hook from manager Brandon Hyde. Right-hander Burch Smith took over in relief and allowed an inherited runner to score to give the Dodgers a 5-0 lead.

The Orioles’ bullpen continued to show signs of improvement, allowing only one run to score the rest of the way. Smith worked around a two-out single for a clean fifth and Gregory Soto faced the minimum in the sixth to hand things over to Matt Bowman, who entered having retired the first 12 batters he faced to begin his Orioles career. Bowman worked out of a jam in the seventh but couldn’t pull off another escape in the eighth, leaving a runner on base that Keegan Akin allowed to score on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Tommy Edman. The run ended a streak of 12 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings for the Orioles’ bullpen.

But the Orioles’ lineup couldn’t take advantage.

Miller didn’t allow a hit until the fourth and the Los Angeles bullpen, sans Hudson, was dominant once again as Treinen, Anthony Banda and former Orioles reliever Evan Phillips put a stop to any potential rallies.

After failing to find their spark in Los Angeles, the Orioles next head to the hitter haven of Coors Field for a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies. Albert Suárez is lined up to start the opener Friday against Colorado starter Austin Gomber.

Around the horn

The Orioles announced their probable pitchers for the first two games of their weekend series with the Colorado Rockies, naming Suárez for Friday and Dean Kremer for Saturday. They left Sunday as “to be announced,” but Hyde said in his pregame news conference that Zach Eflin is a possibility to start. Eflin will be first eligible to return from the injured list Sunday as he looks to make a quick return from a shoulder issue.

Setup man Danny Coulombe has started throwing off a mound in a significant step toward returning from his June elbow surgery. Hyde noted the left-hander is still “a ways away,” but he’s suffered no setbacks in his rehabilitation. Coulombe, who has a 2.42 ERA in 29 games this season, is targeting a September return for Baltimore.

Orioles starter Grayson Rodriguez has completed several throwing sessions long tossing on flat ground and plans to throw his first bullpen session “pretty soon,” he said Thursday. The right-hander said his timeline is “up to the organization” but doesn’t think the strain is as bad as the one that sidelined him three months in 2022: “Caught it before it became anything significant.”

Holliday officially graduated from prospect status by MLB Pipeline’s standards Thursday, making fellow infielder Coby Mayo the new No. 1 overall prospect in the Orioles’ farm system on its rankings. His departure also created an opening in the organizational top 30, which was filled by shortstop DJ Layton. The Orioles picked Layton in the sixth round of this summer’s MLB draft.