Across the Orioles’ recent slide, the nightly culprits have run the gamut. This week against the Rays, it was the pitching. Friday night against the Nationals, it was the hitting, with the O’s managing just four hits in their 4-2 loss, their 11th defeat in 13 games.

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“We need to find a way to get that big inning to get the offense rolling,” Austin Hays said. “We need to extend innings and keep passing the bat off to the next guy … any means necessary.”

Held scoreless until Freddy Galvis’ two-run homer in the ninth, the O’s languished for much of the night against Stephen Strasburg, who showed obvious signs of rust in his first start since mid-April, walking four of his final six batters in 5 1/3 innings. They fell behind when Jorge López again ran into a wall in the fifth inning, allowing run-scoring Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison hits in the fifth after blanking Washington through four. Nine starts into the season, López owns a collective 27.00 fifth-inning ERA, and a 2.60 mark in all other frames.

But it mattered little Friday given the lack of support behind him, from an Orioles offense that’s now been out-hit 28-6 in their past two games. Before Galvis’ homer, their best scoring chance came in the sixth, when Hays aggressively tried to score on Trey Mancini’s opposite-field double, only to be thrown out at home. Mancini doubled again in the ninth; over the past two games, Mancini is 3-for-6 with three extra base hits. All other Orioles hitters are 3-for-51.

“We’re kind of in that mode where when we are pitching well, we’re not scoring enough runs,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “And vice versa.”

In between, these three decisions played a hand in the O’s latest loss. Let’s dissect them:

The decision: To hit for López, or not?
Who: Hyde
When: Top of the fifth inning

Given López’s history of fifth-inning struggles, Hyde had a legitimate decision to make when the pitcher walked to the plate in the top of the fifth inning, with the bases loaded and two out in a scoreless game. At least that’s how it seemed.

It was only the ninth career plate appearance for López, who has spent most of his career in the American League. And not only were the Orioles desperate for offense, but they appeared to have Strasburg on the ropes.

“It was not much of a decision the way our bullpen was tonight,” Hyde said. “I know he’s had trouble in the middle part of the game, but I was trying to push him there. We just did not have many innings in the bullpen tonight, so he needed to go back out.”

López struck out to end the inning, surrendered two runs in the bottom of the frame and was lifted after five anyway.

The decision: To summon a fresh arm, or not?
Who: Front office
When: Before the game

From Hyde’s perspective, his hands were tied. His bullpen has been taxed in recent weeks, the result of a string of short starts from the rotation. The Orioles have had just three starters go at least six innings since May 3, and asked their bullpen for an astounding 32 2/3 innings in their past five games entering Friday (6.5 per game!). Hyde went into play Friday knowing several relievers would be unavailable, necessitating length from López regardless.

Which is why it was curious, especially for such a transactional team, that the Orioles chose not to summon a fresh arm prior to Friday’s series opener. One factor might have been COVID-19 re-entry protocols, which slowed Anthony Santander’s return from the injured list for several days this week. Another is their current ‘pen’s relative lack of optionable relievers, with Cole Sulser and Keegan Akin the only real candidates. Akin might be needed for a start or long relief before long, with the O’s in a stretch of 16 games in 16 days.

The decision: To try to score
Who: Hays
When: Top of the sixth

Compounding their offensive struggles was a self-inflicted wound on the basepaths, when Hays was thrown out trying to score on Mancini’s sixth-inning double into the right-field corner.

Running from first, Hays initially adhered to third-base coach Tony Masolino’s stop sign, after Juan Soto fielded the ball. Had his relay throw arrived cleanly, the Orioles would’ve had a second-and-third, one-out situation with cleanup hitter Santander coming to the plate, plus the platoon advantage against Strasburg. But then, wildness.

When Soto overthrew cutoff man Josh Harrison, Hays broke for home. He quickly regretted it, because first baseman Josh Bell was backing up the play. Bell corralled Soto’s throw and threw Hays out at the plate. Santander then struck out to end the inning, and the Orioles did not score.

“It’s not ideal aggression when you’re down two with Santander coming up,” Hyde said. “I kind of understand -- from my angle -- he hits the base, turns, finds the ball. That’s proper baserunning. He sees a high throw. He sees space between the first cut and Bell, and decided to go for it. I’m sure he would like to have stayed at third now looking back, but I kind of understood it at the time. But not an ideal spot.

Said Hays: “I saw the ball go over the cutoff guy’s head, and initially I did not see Bell. It looked like it was rolling to the infield, and that was my initial read, so I took off to score thinking it was a loose ball. I was about halfway down the line when I saw Bell field it and I realized it was a bad read at that point.”