BALTIMORE -- In their wildest, preseason dreams, the Orioles envisioned shopping Matt Harvey when they looked forward to July, having turned the veteran righty from reclamation project to unlikely Trade Deadline chip come this time of year. Those visions have not manifested into reality.

Instead, with John Means and Bruce Zimmermann on the injured list, Harvey has functioned as the club’s de facto No. 1 starter for weeks now, if in name only. And his struggles are reaching historic proportions.

The latest example came on Wednesday night, when Harvey bore the brunt of the Orioles’ 10-2 loss to the Blue Jays at Camden Yards. In trouble from the game’s first batter, Harvey allowed six earned runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings, his ERA ballooning to 7.70 through 18 starts.

Harvey is the first Major League starter with an ERA at least that high within his first 18 starts of a season since O’s righty Chris Tillman in 2017 (8.08); Tillman was the first to do it since Hideo Nomo in 2004, and is the only other pitcher with such a season-opening span in Orioles franchise history.

“I’m obviously frustrated,” Harvey said. “It’s been a rough first half. But I need to just hit the reset button. I think the [All-Star] break is going to help.”

The trouble on Wednesday began early for Harvey, who allowed his first three batters to reach in what was ultimately a three-run Blue Jays first. It came with some weirdness, via the line drive Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sent into left field with two on and none out, seemingly caught on a dive by Ryan McKenna.

The Orioles thought they had a double play when McKenna’s relay nabbed Marcus Semien rounding third, but umpires overturned the call upon replay review, ruling McKenna trapped the liner. Semien was instead awarded home plate; Toronto benefitted from subsequent run-scoring hits, while Baltimore’s bats stayed quiet against Hyun Jin Ryu and four relievers.

“We don’t play our best defense behind him, and it tends to hurt,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It was a long first inning and a tough night for him.”

In the end, the defeat was Harvey’s ninth consecutive losing decision since his last victory on May 1, when he beat the A’s in Oakland. Harvey has since gone 0-9 with a 10.20 ERA (51 ER / 45 IP) in 12 starts.

“It’s been good at times and really bad at times,” Harvey said. “I go out and have two, three, four good innings, and then things, pretty much all year, have kind of imploded. Something I am going to work on in the second half is trying to be more consistent in each start. … It’s been a struggle, but I need to keep pushing through and figure out how to minimize the damage in those bad innings, and hopefully hit the reset button.”

Lowther alert

The most notable on-field sighting on Wednesday may have been of rookie left-hander Zac Lowther, who allowed a run over two innings of mop-up relief. It was the second relief appearance for Lowther, ranked as the club’s No. 9 prospect by MLB Pipeline, since being recalled last week, and his fifth (one start) in the big leagues this season.

In short, he’s been used sparingly, despite recurring openings in the O’s rotation and continued struggles from Harvey and others.

That might be by design. Lowther was durable, as far as prospects are concerned, throughout his Minor League career, logging a career-high 148 1/3 innings at Double-A in 2019. But he didn’t pitch competitively outside the Orioles’ alternate training site last season, and the O’s remain mindful of workload concerns regarding their young starters.

Lowther has now thrown 32 2/3 total innings this season; that low total could line him up for more regular starts in the second half.