Despite a golden opportunity to win in the ninth inning, the Orioles suffered a devastating 4-6 defeat to the Tigers at Camden Yards on Saturday night.

After a quiet first inning, the Tigers got on the scoreboard with a two-out rally in the second. Riley Greene started the inning with a walk but hung on while the next two batters were retired. Trey Sweeney kept things alive with a double, putting two runners in scoring position, and Dillon Dingler brought them both home with a triple into the right-center gap.

It felt like a Cade Povich start that could spiral out of control from there. We’ve seen the rookie get tripped up by particularly difficult innings before, but that didn’t happen here. Importantly, he was helped by center fielder Cedric Mullins, who made a wonderful pike catch in the bottom of the second inning. From there, it was a breeze for the left-hander.

From the third through the fifth inning, Povich allowed only two baserunners, both of them walks. He also had four strikeouts, including three in the fifth inning alone.

It was an encouraging outing for Povich. He was growing into the game, which hasn’t always been the case for the 24-year-old. He now has a 3.18 ERA in September, a huge improvement over his midseason work.

The Orioles fought back in the second half of the second inning, but the result was rather disappointing. They loaded the bases and had only one out at the end of the series. A fully functioning Orioles offense probably would have made this a great inning. Instead, Emmanuel Rivera got their first run of the day with a sacrifice fly and that was all they could manage. Jackson Holliday was only a couple of outs at the end of the inning.

Another promising inning was wasted in the fourth. With one out and runners on first and second base, Heston Kjerstad hit a base hit into left field. Greene charged the rolling ball, fielded it, and hit a strike home to catch Rutschman, who was trying to score from second base. Rivera came to bat with two outs, but he too could not get the job done. Although the O’s had three hits in this inning, they were unable to score.

However, Rivera was able to score in the sixth inning. With two outs and two runners on base, Rivera hit a single up the middle. Again, it was Rutschman who rounded third base, and this time he scored easily, tying the score at two runs.

In the seventh inning, it seemed like the Orioles were going to give up the lead again. Keegan Akin came on and got himself into trouble, allowing two consecutive singles. But from there, he pulled himself together, got a fielder’s decision for the first out, secured a key strikeout from Andy Ibáñez for out number two, and then induced a flyout to get out unscathed.

Things didn’t go so well for Cionel Pérez in the eighth inning. He allowed three singles in a row, including a base hit by Jake Rogers that brought in a run. Rogers’ hit should have been fielded by Holliday at second base and turned into a double play, but the ball went past him and gave the Tigers a crucial run.

Detroit was also able to score another run with a sacrifice fly by Colt Keith to bring in Greene and make the game 4-2.

That put the Orioles offense under pressure to pull through in the bottom of the ninth inning. They could have done that, but they could have done a lot more, and they paid a heavy price for that.

Kjerstad led off with a single. Rivera followed with one of his own. And then Holliday, who had had a rough day, threw a very mature swing and drew a walk. That created a dream scenario for the Orioles. Gunnar Henderson went to the plate with no outs and the bases loaded. The MVO did his job, hitting a double into the gap between right and center to score Kjerstad and Rivera while setting the stage for a walk-off.

Only the walk-off never happened. Cedric Mullins was thrown out on a groundout. Then Anthony Santander jumped out with a flare over third base, which the Tigers’ shortstop, Sweeney, somehow got under while colliding with the left fielder. The runner on third base, Holliday, had taken a few steps away from the base in the hope of scoring a single. Instead, he stayed there.

MASN announcer Jim Palmer suggested that Holliday would have scored if he had pitched, but that’s not guaranteed. Sweeney got the ball in quickly and the play was pretty close to third base. Not to mention, Holliday’s decision to take a few steps away from the base was the right play in baseball. It just didn’t work out. Despite all the things that didn’t go well for Holliday in this game, this one doesn’t feel like a mistake. Colton Cowser was next and could have scored the winning run. He flied out and ended the inning.

It went into overtime and Yennier Cano came on for the Orioles. It wasn’t his best night. Greene hit Cano’s first pitch to right field for an RBI single. Jace Jung hit the second pitch of the inning to right center field for a double. The next batter, McKinstry, scored the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to right field. Cano then sealed the deal with two strikeouts.

The Orioles became dangerous in the second half of the 10th inning but were unable to score any runs. Livan Soto worked a walk to move runners to the corners with one out and Kjerstad up next. The rookie hitter put up resistance but was no match for Beau Brieske’s changeup. He struck out and rookie Daniel Johnson grounded out to end the game.

Look, there’s something positive to take from every game. Povich has improved tremendously over the course of the season and was good here. Rivera had two hits and two RBIs. He seems like a guy who will stick around until the postseason. Henderson came through when it mattered most. That’s cool!

But this game could have been so much more. It could have been an Orioles win. Another walk-off win. Another game where the offense scored five runs. And it could have been the game that put them in the postseason. It would have felt damn good!

In the ninth inning, they had done it. Runners in scoring position, no one out, and the 2-3-4 hitters were up. None of them could make it. That’s a sad reflection of how well the Orioles’ offense is set up right now.

The ninth inning wasn’t the only problem, however. The Orioles managed 3 of 12 runs with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base the entire game. They had 10 hits, four walks and one hit by pitch. That math should have resulted in more than four runs. The fact that it didn’t is a problem.

Ramón Urías, Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle are likely to be back this week. That will help. But is that enough to turn this lineup around? Anything is better than the status quo, and Westburg in particular is no mopey mopey. Right now, it just feels hopeless.

To stay positive, the Orioles can still win the playoffs this weekend and even win a series. That would help to at least somewhat erase the bad taste of today’s loss.

Albert Suárez will start on the bump for the O’s on Sunday. The Tigers are still deciding who will start for them. First pitch is at 1:35 on MASN.