TORONTO -- The middle innings dragged on, and that flight to Florida couldn’t come fast enough. Then came a four-run ninth, nearly extending the Orioles’ last visit to Rogers Centre this season.

“A little bit too little, too late there,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

In the thick of a road trip marked by peaks and valleys, the O’s found little consistency through their three-game set in Toronto, leaving town on Thursday night with a 7-6 loss to the Blue Jays.

That ninth-inning rally fell one swing short, as Anthony Santander flied out to center field to strand Colton Cowser at first and seal a series loss. Still, it gave Baltimore something to build on as the club heads for St. Petersburg for a weekend series against the Rays.

“From my perspective, I felt like we were hitting a lot of balls hard today and just missing them,” said Cowser. “The bats came alive there in the ninth, so, yeah, hopefully we can carry that momentum into this weekend.”

Everyone knows these bats can come alive at any time. No team in the Majors has hit more home runs (179), picked up more RBIs (574) or posted a better slugging percentage (.452) than the Orioles.

Thursday’s late rally was a great example of the constant threat that is Baltimore’s offense.

After struggling to find any traction against Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman for the first eight frames -- save for Cowser’s opposite-field two-run homer in the third -- the O’s took full advantage of a pitching change in the final inning, going station to station with three consecutive singles off right-hander Zach Pop to open the frame in their quest to erase the Blue Jays’ five-run lead.

That brought in high-leverage veteran reliever Chad Green, but the Orioles kept putting the ball in play, scoring four times on a forceout, a double and a single. The hole was just a bit too deep at that point.

“We're scratching from behind there, just trying to get the tying run [at] the plate somehow. We did,” said Hyde. “Then we had the tying run on base, so great job rallying in the ninth inning, just a little bit too little, too late.”

So the problem isn’t an absence of offense, but rather how unevenly distributed it has been over the past three games.

Gausman sailed through eight innings on 100 pitches (69 strikes) despite posting just two strikeouts. The Orioles had chances to chase the Blue Jays’ starter earlier -- and get an earlier look at a less-than-great bullpen -- but instead they watched as the zeros lined up from the fourth inning to the eighth.

Then, there was the other side of the equation.

“We’ve got to give up less runs than we’re giving up,” said Hyde.

Adding to a series filled with oddities was the loss of Grayson Rodriguez (right lat/teres discomfort) and Jacob Webb (right elbow inflammation) to the 15-day injured list, a development that moved Albert Suárez back to the rotation and raised another set of concerns for Baltimore.

Dean Kremer took the mound in the finale, set on building off a string of solid outings to help stabilize this staff. But five walks in 4 1/3 innings made it tough to find any sort of rhythm. Add to that a couple of mistake pitches against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. -- who ended the night a single shy of the cycle -- and it shaped up to be a frustrating outing for Kremer.

“Too many non-competitive pitches in deep counts,” said Kremer. “I got myself in trouble.”

This series against a Blue Jays team that is all but out of the postseason race was a golden chance to make something happen in the American League East. Instead, the Orioles are leaving for Florida in a deadlock for first place with the Yankees, who just dropped two out of three to the Angels at home.

Of course, whether the glass is half empty or half full depends on your disposition.

“We haven't been really playing our best baseball, but you know, we're still in the fight for the division,” said Cowser. “So I think that's really all you can ask for. As a team, I think we're looking to finish this next month and a half strong, and whatever position we're in, we're in.”

Better to get these odd funks and tough stretches out of the way now than in October.

“Baseball is a funny game,” said Cowser. “Some days, things are going our way. Other stretches of games, they're not. I think the most important thing we can do as a team is just continue to show up and be the same guys every day.”