BALTIMORE -- The plan was kicked into fruition as Tuesday night became Wednesday. In the bowels of Camden Yards, the Orioles’ brain trust -- and after clearing it with each player -- made the surprising decision to elevate Tyler Wells from the injured list before schedule and thrust him into a pennant race after a month-plus layoff due to injury.

The club also pushed Dean Kremer back from his originally scheduled start for bulk innings in relief. Hours later, it would be announced to the public.

Considering the stakes of this series -- and the task on Wednesday, specifically with American League Cy Young candidate Alek Manoah on the mound -- Baltimore was scouring for any competitive angle. Manager Brandon Hyde said the chief concern was innings, after needing to cover 27 in the previous two days, but also getting Wells back to the club, where he could impact results most directly.

None of it ultimately mattered in the end.

The Orioles’ 4-1 setback that secured a four-game series loss to a postseason rival they’re chasing wasn’t because their pitching creativity didn’t work out -- Wells and Kremer combined for 7 1/3 innings and allowed just four runs (three earned) -- but because of what such last-minute game-planning was trying to brace for already.

Baltimore’s task was tall with the 6-foot-6 Manoah on the mound. The O’s got a run off him in the first inning, a build-off of their emotional win a night prior, but nothing after. Manoah retired 22 of the final 23 batters he faced, his only blemish an Adley Rutschman double in the sixth.

“Yeah, disappointed. But it's a really good team,” Hyde said. “I thought we got shut down offensively tonight, and those nights do happen. Unfortunately for us, tonight was one of those nights. We pitched well enough to win, we just couldn't get anything going offensively.”

The result in the macro was all the more deflating. After dropping both ends of Monday’s doubleheader, the Orioles had the chance to even the series ledger and return their Wild Card deficit back to where it was prior to the series. By not doing so, they fell to 4 1/2 games back of the third Wild Card spot.

The Orioles’ postseason odds are more in the balance than they were at the start of the week, though they remain the only team in striking distance on the outside looking in. They will get six more cracks at the Blue Jays, but they lost a chance to try and make the margins for next time slimmer at their own doing.

The home stretch, they hope, is just about to begin.

“It's going to be, I would say, a competitive month,” Wells said. “But I think at the same time, too, it's also going to be worth it in the end. I’m hoping that we continue to push and we continue to battle. If we continue to play the way that we've been playing as of late, hopefully we can push and surprise a lot of people.”

That’s why Wednesday was so important.

Kremer had been scheduled for several days as the starter. And then, at around 10:45 a.m. ET, it was announced that Wells would return off the IL to start the finale. Later, Hyde shared that Kremer would come on in relief behind Wells -- their way of not just trying to get through Wednesday’s game by necessity but utilizing two of their better-performing pitchers in tandem.

Wells will continue to build up on the fly to try and impact the stretch run; Kremer will return to the rotation as soon as his next turn comes up. The pressure -- built by their immaculate spate of winning -- is starting to turn on in Baltimore, though the O's feel apt to handle it.

“I don't think anything's changed,” Kremer said. “We're not pressing. There's still a good bit of season left. We just started September, and we do play [Toronto] two times. There's definitely chances to make up that gap.”

The crux of the matter is that the only way to do so is to win, not just against the Blue Jays down the stretch but against those in the Orioles’ path. This set broke a spell of five consecutive series wins. It’s going to require a few more to transfer some of that pressure upward.

“It's going to take some wins,” Hyde said. “We’re going to need to win.”