The Orioles entered Monday night’s game at Fenway Park with an offensive weakness, having scored just four runs in their last four games, a stretch in which they allowed 36 strikeouts and scored 1 of 20 runs with runners in scoring position. I wish I could say they’d solved their problems, but that would be a lie.

Instead, they wasted a ton of chances against an average starter in Brayan Bello, scoring just two runs against him and allowing eight runs in the first four innings. Starter Cade Povich wasn’t perfect, but left the game with the score at 4-2 before the bullpen wreaked havoc and turned a close game into a 12-3 win.

At one point, Brandon Hyde threw something, maybe a towel, into the dugout. We all got it. In the meantime, the Yankees won, putting their lead in the AL East back up to 1.5 games. It’s not an insurmountable lead, but it was a crappy night of baseball.

Let’s start with the offense, which was wasteful and frustrating. Somehow, in the first inning, the Orioles managed to get a leadoff double from Gunnar Henderson, a single each from Anthony Santander and Adley Rutschman, and a walk from Ryan O’Hearn in just one Run. With one out, two Orioles batters missed in a row with the bases loaded, including, in a key situation, Eloy Jiménez, who was a black hole on offense tonight. What the heck, guys.

The O’s hitters drove up Bello’s pitch count — he’d thrown 87 in four innings — but didn’t penalize him for his mishits outside the zone. Well, Bello had a lot of mishits in a strange fourth inning, and he paid for them, but only a little. Two Orioles got a walk, Colton Cowser and Liván Soto. This was the first time this year that the multi-waiver wire pickup reached a base. With two outs, Cedric Mullins hit a 2-2 slider. The ball hit him on the back foot, but the home plate umpire didn’t see it! Cowser, thinking it might be a dropped strike three, raced home alertly before the Red Sox challenged the call. The umpires agreed and ruled it a HBP with the bases loaded, and so the undaunted Cowser was sent back to third base. Ultimately, it didn’t matter as Anthony Santander brought home a second run with a two-out walk.

But that was all they could do against Bello.

As for the Orioles’ starter, you already know he wasn’t great, but with a half-decent offense he would have been good enough. “Slim” landed strikes with his fastball, but allowed a solo run in the first inning when Rafael Devers picked up a ball below the strike zone and Rob Refsnyder, who likes to hit left-handed, fired a fastball down the line. The slow Devers stopped at third base, but a groundout got him a run.

In the third inning, the Red Sox made a lot of noise against the rookie left-hander. Thanks to Cedric Mullins, at least one of the hard-hit balls went nowhere. Jarren Duran hit a ball into the gap, but Mullins, who seemed to be wiping out miles of grass, caught the ball with a superman leap. Kevin Brown called it “the most extraordinary play by a center fielder this year.” It was a truly breathtaking play. See for yourself.

Sad for Cedric And Povich, this moment was overshadowed by consecutive bombs from Rob Refsnyder (the Really loves to hit left-handed bats) and Tyler O’Neill, who has the highest home run rate of any player in the game. It was now 4-1 Boston, and the Orioles’ early wasted runs were starting to show.

Povich had a better fourth inning: He struck out Trevor Story with a curveball, and despite an error by Gunnar in the field, a ground ball with a double play ended a quick inning. But just when it looked like he was getting going, his performance ended. He struck out Red Sox Nos. 1 and 2 hitters in Duran and Devers in the fifth inning, but after a walk with one out and with left-handed hitter Tyler O’Neill next, Brandon Hyde made an aggressive push to the bullpen.

Technically, This proved to be a mistake, as Burch Smith’s first pitch bounced wide to the left. But the right-handed reliever got a gigantic Assist from his left fielder, and we got another Orioles defensive gem. After the ball bounced off the monster, Colton Cowser made a brilliant play on pure instinct. While Refsnyder was running around the bases, Cowser caught the rebound with his bare hands and fired a rocket to the plate. Adley pocketed it, lunged to right, and grabbed the runner at home!

With one out in the sixth inning and the score still at 4-2, the Red Sox pulled Bryan Bello and brought in left-hander Brennan Bernardino. All of the Orioles’ right-handers came in. But despite a double by pinch hitter Emmanuel Rivera, the O’s first extra-base hit since the first inning, the offense was unable to get anything going.

After that, the set might as well have been shut down. Burch Smith was out again for the sixth, and it wasn’t a good one. The right-hander allowed two consecutive singles, then, when he faced catcher Jansen, a fastball that to Up-and-in, which Chad Fairchild ruled a hit-by-pitch, one of several misjudgments by the home plate umpire that night. No. 9 batter Rafaela hit the ball flat to right center field, and two balls came home, making the score 6-2.

Brandon Hyde brought in Gregory Soto, but Soto had a typical Gregory Soto inning: He struck out the impressive Jarren Duran for out No. 2, allowed two consecutive singles to make it 8-2, and then struck out Tyler O’Neill with a swing. I didn’t catch if Brandon Hyde threw anything else, but we’d all understand if he did.

Even when Craig Kimbrel, despite his increased velocity, had three strikeouts in the eighth inning, but also allowed a single, a walk and a two-run double. Yeah, I wouldn’t use him as a closer again at this point.

With the score 10-3, left-hander Cole Irvin allowed a solo home run from Refsnyder that gave him a 4-for-4 line with 5 RBIs. Oh, what fun. Then Tyler O’Neill’s second four-hitter of the day. We know by now that these two like to hit lefties. Guess Hyde was too burned out to care.

From the Ministry of Silver Linings, I bring you news that Anthony Santander has hit his 40th home run of the season, making him only the eighth switch hitter in history to accomplish the feat. He’s a likable guy and it’s nice to see. I wish it had happened under better circumstances.

Additionally, Adley Rutschman went 0-for-12 tonight and was 2-for-5, and Gunnar Henderson looks like the aggressive Shark version of himself who posted a 1.081 OPS in June.

But that’s all I have for you. There will be better nights with the Orioles, but this was not one of them.