MINNEAPOLIS — Sometimes they’re blowouts. Sometimes they’re nail-biters. Lately, the result has been all the same.

The Orioles lost, 5-2, to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to a season-high four games behind an offense that once again started slow and struggled to piece together rallies.

Charlie Morton allowed three runs, his fewest in any start this season, but was entrusted with only four innings and wound up with his MLB-leading seventh loss of the campaign after surrendering the deciding home run to center fielder Byron Buxton.

With the loss, Baltimore (13-22) moved to nine games under .500 for the first time since July 2, 2022.

As glaring as the shortcomings of their rotation have been, the Orioles’ offense has scored three runs or fewer in 12 of its past 15 games — and hasn’t plated a single run in the first inning over that span. Though they did manage to score first Wednesday on a solo home run by Ramón Lauerano in the third, that lead lasted only half an inning as Buxton took Morton deep for a three-run blast on a curveball he left hanging over the middle of the plate.

Morton, returning to the rotation after making his last three appearances out of the bullpen, cruised through his first two frames before giving up a leadoff single to left fielder Willi Castro and hitting second baseman Kody Clemens to set up Buxton’s second three-run homer against the Orioles in as many days. Morton returned for a clean fourth before manager Brandon Hyde pulled him for Bryan Baker to start the fifth.

The Orioles cut the lead to one in the top half of the fifth when Laureano doubled and scored on a two-out RBI single by Heston Kjerstad. But they had a chance for more. Emmanuel Rivera followed with a base hit to flip the lineup and bring up Cedric Mullins, which prompted the Twins to yank starter Simeon Woods Richardson for former Orioles left-hander Danny Coulombe.

Mullins, who is 2-for-29 (.069) at the plate over his past seven games, came up first-pitch swinging and made solid contact with a line drive down the right field line that just hooked foul. However, Coulombe eventually won the battle with a swinging strikeout, stranding both runners and running his streak of consecutive scoreless innings up to 14 1/3.

It was the closest the Orioles would get to scoring a run the rest of the night. The Twins did tack on a pair of insurance runs with a pinch-hit, two-run homer to left by Harrison Bader off Keegan Akin in the seventh, but even a one-run lead would’ve been insurmountable in the end.

Instant analysis

The problem was, and continues to be, the offense.

Even with Jordan Westburg, Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser on the injured list, Baltimore has a deep group of hitters that on paper form a nightmare of a batting order for opponents to face. They tallied 10 hits in the contest to show signs of life but stranded six base runners and only had four at-bats all game with runners in scoring position. They went 1-for-4 in those situations.

Patience is the only course of action for a team so invested in its young core of position players like the Orioles. They have no choice but to wait for Gunnar Henderson (.711 OPS), Adley Rutschman (.663), Ryan Mountcastle (.557) and Kjerstad (.623) to turn things around. These are talented enough players to provide plenty of hope that can happen.

The Orioles are just running out of time for them to do it before the season gets away from them.

On deck

For the Orioles to salvage a game in this series, they will have to find a way to beat Twins right-hander Joe Ryan. The 28-year-old is off to a strong start to the season with a 2.93 ERA over his first seven starts. Baltimore will send Dean Kremer to the mound coming off his best performance of the year: seven scoreless against the Kansas City Royals. Kremer, who was struck in the leg by a comebacker in that game, will be pitching on five days’ rest.

Eflin to return vs. Angels

The Orioles are getting their No. 1 starter back.

Zach Eflin is scheduled to make his return from the injured list for this weekend’s series against the Los Angeles Angels, Hyde said Wednesday. The right-hander completed a bullpen session at Target Field on Wednesday afternoon and trainers cleared him to rejoin the Orioles’ rotation. Baltimore (13-21) hasn’t announced which game he will start in the series.

“If it was my way, I would have liked maybe a day or two extra and then not even go on the IL, but I understand there was something there in my lat and I had to listen to the trainers, I had to listen to my body,” Eflin said Tuesday.

“Nothing that you ever want to do, go on the IL. You just don’t feel like you’re a part of the team. You want to be out there in the trenches with the guys every day, so it’s hard to have that reality, but at the end of the day, I think it’s what my body needed to be able to go out and make every start for the rest of the season and the playoffs.”

Eflin, 31, posted a 3.00 ERA and 0.83 WHIP over three appearances to begin the season before exiting his April 7 start against the Arizona Diamondbacks with lat discomfort. An MRI revealed a strain and he landed on the injured list the next day, a significant blow to a rotation that ranks 28th in the major leagues with a 5.75 staff ERA.

With Morton rejoining Tomoyuki Sugano, Kremer, Cade Povich and Kyle Gibson in the rotation Wednesday, the Orioles have five starting pitchers on their active roster and will need to create a spot for Eflin. The simplest solution might be to move Morton (9.76 ERA) back to the bullpen, where he’s made three appearances while trying to get right in Baltimore.

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