Dean Kremer’s arrival to the Orioles organization six years ago as part of the prospect package in return for Manny Machado signaled a shift for Baltimore baseball.

That new era included a painful rebuild — intentionally uncompetitive baseball that resulted in three seasons with at least 108 losses. Those days are long gone, and Kremer, a mainstay in the Orioles’ rotation since 2022, facing Machado, a San Diego Padre since 2019, on Saturday at Camden Yards was another full-circle moment for a pitcher who experienced the lows of the rebuild and the highs of last season’s success.

The problem for Kremer was his defense played like it did during the rebuild.

The Orioles made several defensive blunders and their bats weren’t much better to spoil a gutsy performance from Kremer in the club’s 9-4 loss to the Padres. Baltimore has lost five of its past six games as the club struggles to shake its now-weekslong scuffle.

Kremer allowed four runs in six innings, but only one was earned because of errors from third baseman Ramón Urías and shortstop Gunnar Henderson. The first miscue was a miscommunication between the two infielders on a popup that allowed it to fall and bring home two runs. The second was an errant throw from Henderson on a potential double play that allowed another run to cross the plate.

Six weeks ago, those errors — specifically the blunder on the popup — would’ve been easily dismissed as an anomaly by one of the best teams in baseball, a club that routinely plays fundamental baseball. Recently, though, it’s the latest example of the brand of baseball the Orioles have been playing in recent weeks.

Baltimore’s lineup managed only one hit off Padres right-hander Michael King during his 6 1/3 masterful innings. The Orioles’ lone offense was a credit to Cedric Mullins, who roped a two-run double in the seventh and blasted a two-run homer in the ninth off San Diego’s bullpen. In total, the Orioles went 7-for-34 (.206) at the plate and 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

While Kremer (4-7) deserved better than the loss with four runs allowed, his bullpen made any comeback attempt nearly impossible. Long reliever Cole Irvin entered in the seventh and allowed four runs — three on a home run by Machado — and Bryan Baker gave up one run in the ninth.

To be thoroughly outplayed in all three facets of the game is something that rarely happened to Baltimore last season and this spring. But this summer, it’s happened more times than expected for a team with World Series aspirations.

Manager Brandon Hyde said before the game that his club’s recent poor play can’t be pinned to “one area.”

“I feel like we played better defensively in the first few months. We made big pitches in big spots more often, didn’t make as many mistakes on the mound. And then obviously we hit more, drove the baseball and hit better with runners in scoring position the first few months,” Hyde said. “A little bit in every area right now where we’re going through a little bit of a funk. And I think that’s very, very normal. You look around the league and there are a lot of really, really good teams that are going through the same thing.

“We’re confident that we’re going to come out of it, and it’s hard when you’re living it every day to not feel frustrated. But you want to believe that the process is really good with how we’re going about things and that we’re going to come out of this soon.”

On June 1, the Orioles were 37-19 — one of the best starts to a season in franchise history. Since, they’re played exactly .500 ball with a 24-24 record. Baltimore is 16-21 since June 13, 12-18 since June 21 and 4-10 since July 9.

Still, they’re atop the American League East thanks to the New York Yankees’ even-worse slumping. The Orioles are 61-43 and own a 1 1/2 game lead over the Yankees, whose game against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night has yet to conclude.