BALTIMORE -- The Orioles, during their ebullient second-half run, have long felt there’s no comeback too insurmountable, no disappointment too large to wash away and no reason to believe their resilience won’t power a rebound.

They hadn’t yet run into Saturday night, though.

Baltimore suffered its worst loss of the season in Saturday’s 17-4 shellacking at the hands of the Red Sox at Camden Yards, allowing season highs in runs and hits (21) en route to a lopsided loss at an inopportune time, something the O's hadn’t experienced much this season.

The defeat pushed the Orioles a key step down the ladder in their bid for the postseason, as they fell to 5 games behind Seattle for the third and final Wild Card spot.

At the most crucial juncture of the season, after starting September with three straight wins, the Orioles have dropped five of their past seven, falling to 5-5 for the month.

“This is just one of those games that you have to flush,” said center fielder Cedric Mullins, whose third-inning homer was one of just three runs the Orioles scored off Red Sox starter Michael Wacha. “We had a battle with them the first day, then they came out swinging. It's up to us to keep that mental thought to stay competitive and go out tomorrow, play hard.”

“We're in September,” said manager Brandon Hyde, “and these things happen.”

It was a game that started with Baltimore’s workhorse, Jordan Lyles, making his return to the mound after a nine-day layoff due to illness, and ended with Ryan McKenna becoming just the O's second position player to take the mound on the year.

Neither performance inspired much confidence. Boston tagged Lyles for a season-high eight runs across just 3 2/3 innings, rust -- and a lack of velocity -- catching up with him. He allowed four runs -- on a Rafael Devers grand slam -- before he recorded an out.

“It only counts for one loss,” Lyles said. “We take the series, and we won't think about all the runs we gave up tonight.”

Lyles’ start, though, was concerning. The right-hander threw just four pitches north of 90 mph, with every pitch but one in his arsenal 2 mph below their season averages. On the year, Lyles entered Saturday having thrown more than 88 percent of his fastballs at least 90 mph.

Unsure of the exact nature of his lack of velocity, Lyles said he was more concerned about the precipitous position in which he left his team.

“I don't care what or how hard I'm throwing,” Lyles said. “I'm trying to get quick outs, trying to get our defense back in the dugout and let them get comfortable. I hate them standing around in the outfield and the infield for so long, having Adley [Rutschman] back there, squatting so long.”

It would benefit the Orioles for Lyles to regain his form in the final stretch. He’s thrown the most innings, by far, of any Baltimore starter this season. In his absence, the rotation he leads has struggled.

Orioles starters have failed to top five innings in each of their past six outings (although one, Keegan Akin’s start in place of Lyles on Monday, was more restricted from the beginning, as Akin was making a spot start out of the bullpen). O's starters have recorded just one win this month. Along the way, the bullpen has been leaned on heavily for innings, which contributed to Félix Bautista not being used through the first two games of the series due to right arm fatigue.

In the Orioles’ eyes, Saturday resembles just another hurdle to be cleared, another impressive comeback to be orchestrated.

“We know what's in front of us, what's in store, what we're capable of,” Lyles said. “It was a bad loss, but it only counts for one.”

Do they still feel a postseason bid is in their future?

“Until they say that we're unable to do so, regardless of if we win out,” Mullins said, “then yeah.”