The Orioles played a baseball game. They were nearly no-hit.

Recently, those two things have almost been one and the same.

For the third time in five games, the Orioles on Wednesday night were almost on the wrong side of baseball history in a 7-0 loss. Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom was perfect through six innings and carried a no-hit bid through seven frames against a lifeless Orioles offense.

Jackson Holliday’s leadoff walk in the seventh ended deGrom’s bid to twirl just the 25th perfect game in MLB history. With deGrom six outs away from the first no-hitter of the 2025 MLB season, Colton Cowser broke it up with a ground ball single past diving second baseman Marcus Semien to lead off the eighth. After both instances, Baltimore fans at Camden Yards sarcastically cheered their team for avoiding embarrassment.

Then, as deGrom walked off the mound, those same fans sincerely applauded the four-time All-Star right-hander for his masterful effort.

“I mean, every pitcher would like to throw one,” deGrom said. “So I wanted it bad, but just didn’t happen tonight.”

The performance from Baltimore’s bats followed an even worse one Tuesday when they were no-hit through six innings by Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz, who was making the third start of his career. On Saturday in New York, the Orioles were no-hit through seven innings by Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt before journeyman reliever JT Brubaker lost it in the eighth. Ramón Laureano broke up the no-no Tuesday, while Gary Sánchez did the honors Saturday. An MLB team has been one-hit 11 times this season. The Orioles account for three of those.

“I think tonight’s probably separate from the other ones. Tonight’s all Jacob deGrom,” Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “When he’s on, that might be the toughest at-bat in the big leagues right now. You saw it tonight.”

In Baltimore’s defense, deGrom did look unhittable. He was mixing his high-90s mph fastball and low-90s mph slider in flashy fashion, once again showing that he’s back to being the pitcher he was when he was a two-time National League Cy Young Award winner with the New York Mets before injuries derailed his career. The $185 million ace struck out seven in what was the longest no-hit bid of his career.

“He’s been one of the best since he got in the league,” said Jordan Westburg, who returned after missing three games with a sprained finger and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. “It’s a really good fastball, it’s a really good slider, it’s a really good changeup, it’s plus command, putting it where he wants to and a mix of all three pitches at any time in any quadrant of the strike zone. I feel like he’s always in control. That’s what it feels like up there.

“That was my first time facing him. It’s a lot of fun saying I got to face Jacob deGrom, especially the way he looked today. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t do more offensively.”

Holliday’s warning track flyout in the fourth was the only time the Orioles came close to recording a hit before Cowser’s single.

“I tried to beat (Cowser) with a fastball, and he was able to a get hit on it,” deGrom said. “So really, the two walks kind of killed me. They got my pitch count up.”

Josh Jung gave deGrom all the run support he would need with an RBI single in the second inning off Orioles starter Brandon Young, who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day. Jung then put the Rangers up 3-0 with a two-run blast in the fourth.

As deGrom (8-2, 2.08 ERA) cruised, his offense exploded against Scott Blewett, who relieved Young (0-2, 7.11 ERA) in the fifth. All-Stars Corey Seager and Semien both smacked RBI singles against Blewett, and Adolis García put Texas (40-41) up 6-0 with a sacrifice fly. Catcher Jonah Heim, a 2013 draftee by the Orioles, then blasted a solo homer off Blewett in the sixth.

Baltimore is 34-46 and has lost four of its past five games since a thrilling win in the Bronx on Friday.

The Orioles’ past five losses have featured the three near no-hitters, a wasted 8-0 lead in Tampa and a squandered 2-1 advantage in the eighth inning Sunday.

The Orioles won six straight games to open June. Since, they’ve gone 9-10 and won only one of their six series.

“Grand scheme of things, I thought we’ve been playing some pretty good baseball the last couple weeks,” Westburg said. “I choose to look at the positives here. Off-day tomorrow, reset, come out with a big series against the Rays.”

Baltimore Sun intern Sam Jane contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer