BALTIMORE -- Not a lot is going right for the Orioles of late. Not the offense, filled with simultaneously slumping bats. Not the bullpen, which struggled during a series loss to the Mets earlier this week.

Not even the performance of All-Star ace Corbin Burnes, a steadying presence in the rotation for much of the season.

It’s not a great time for all of this to happen, either.

Burnes’ surprisingly tough August continued Thursday night at Camden Yards, where Baltimore took a 6-0 loss in the opener of a four-game series against Houston. The O’s (74-55), who are 9-11 this month, fell to 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees (75-53) in the American League East.

It’s the largest deficit the Orioles have faced in the division since June 25, when they trailed the Yanks by two games. Once leading the AL East by three, Baltimore again sits 19 games above .500 -- the same mark it was at on June 4, when it was 39-20.

“I think the way we started off the year is how we think we can play baseball, and we know we can play baseball that way,” Burnes said. “It starts with us on the mound, and it starts with me. I haven’t done my job the last few starts. It’s going to take me to turn things around. ...

“We’ve been in a tough stretch, but we’ve still got a lot of baseball left.”

As the O’s try to get hot for the first time in the second half -- they haven’t won more than two in a row since a three-game win streak from July 14-20, sandwiching the All-Star break -- the schedule for the next week poses plenty of challenges. After this series vs. the AL West-leading Astros (69-58), the Orioles head West to face the MLB-best Dodgers (76-52).

Quite often this year, Burnes has gotten Baltimore on track. He’s been the stalwart of a banged up rotation that is currently missing Zach Eflin (right shoulder inflammation) and Grayson Rodriguez (right lat/teres strain).

However, Burnes’ past two outings have been his worst. The 29-year-old right-hander set career highs in runs (eight) and hits (10) allowed during his season-low four-inning start vs. Boston last Friday. Then, on Thursday, Burnes yielded six runs (five earned) on eight hits and two walks while recording only two strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He was chased from the game during Houston’s four-run sixth, a five-single rally that put the game out of reach.

“They didn’t hit that many balls hard against him on the night,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just some ground balls that got through, some ground balls that were just out of reach for double-play balls to get him out of the inning. Stuff was good. Just didn’t work out his way.”

Burnes has an 8.71 ERA over four August outings. His season ERA has climbed from 2.47 to 3.28 this month, and extra rest between starts hasn’t seemed to help, as he was pushed back a day this turn through the rotation.

It also didn’t help that the Orioles’ offense was shut down by Astros rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti, who entered with a 5.20 ERA over his first 22 MLB starts (all this season). The 24-year-old retired 18 of the 22 Baltimore hitters he faced, allowing only three hits and a walk over six dominant innings.

“He was good. Fastball was good early on. He had a good curveball, and he's got good stuff,” said Ryan O’Hearn, one of six O’s starters to go hitless. “But you know what, they all do. The Astros are a good team, they have good arms. We're good, too. We've got to find out a way to put things together as a unit and put runs on the board.”

Over their past six games, the Orioles are hitting .167 and averaging 3.33 runs per contest. They tallied nine runs on 11 hits on Tuesday, but they’ve had exactly three hits each of the past two days, scoring only three total runs.

“We'll get there. It's ebbs and flows of a long season,” O’Hearn said. “It's been a tough stretch, but I have a lot of confidence in our guys and our offense. I think we'll turn it around and start to put some things together.”

Baltimore needs to. Because as it sits in the first AL Wild Card position, the team is only two games ahead of Kansas City and Minnesota, the clubs in the other two WC spots. Boston, the first team out, is 5 1/2 games behind the O’s.

So if the Orioles don’t heat up a bit, their tight divisional race with the Yankees could become secondary to a competitive Wild Card battle.