Win as often as the Orioles have of late, and losses like Thursday’s feel even worse.

Twice they erased deficits, first with a home run by Anthony Santander and later with a go-ahead blast by Adley Rutschman.

But not having Yennier Cano available knocked the bullpen out of whack. With Danny Coloumbe on the mound with the bases full of runners put there by Bryan Baker and Austin Voth, Ryan Mountcastle made a diving stop on a hard grounder by Shohei Ohtani only to find no one covering first, allowing the eventual winning run to score in a 6-5 Orioles loss before 27,778 fans in a series-ending matinee Thursday at Camden Yards.

“We’re a little bit on fumes in the ‘pen,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Unfortunately, just couldn’t close it out.”

The Orioles will still head to Toronto after a winning homestand, having taken two of three from Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh before this split with the Angels. But rare are the days of late when the Orioles hang in games then fight back to take the lead and don’t ultimately hold it.

“I think there’s probably some frustration revolving around today’s game,” starter Tyler Wells said. There are many reasons for that.

The Orioles loaded the bases with one out in the first inning but pushed no one across. Gunnar Henderson and Joey Ortiz singled in the second, but neither scored.

Wells made sure that didn’t mean too much — he allowed a first-inning home run to Ohtani and a two-run blast by Mike Trout in the third — but suffered no further damage in striking out seven over five innings with a career-high 19 swinging strikes. He stranded two in the fifth, then the Orioles’ offense got to work.

Ortiz scored from third on an aggressive send when Mountcastle flied out to shallow left field, then Santander’s seventh home run of the season tied the game. The Angels took the lead back off Mike Baumann in the sixth, then Rutschman reversed that with a home run off a Eutaw Street pillar in the seventh inning.

From there, however, the Orioles paid for using Cano to finish a 7-3 win Tuesday before returning to his typical setup role with a clean inning Wednesday. Without him, closer Félix Bautista was clearly being held for a save situation — and none arose.

Baker allowed a one-out single, then issued a walk before handing things over to Voth. He struck out Taylor Ward, then hit Trout with a pitch to bring in Coulombe.

On his first pitch, Ohtani laced a ball to the right side. As a lefty who falls off the mound to the third-base side, Coulombe never had a chance to beat Ohtani to the bag, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

“He’s 3-point-something [seconds] down the line,” Hyde said of Ohtani. “I think he gets there safe anyways. But we had a lot of walks today out of the bullpen that hurt. Baumann gets a ground ball double play and then he walks the next guy and then just kind of, from there, Bake’s pitched a lot, had a lot of appearances this year and not as sharp as he normally is. Big punchout, but then kind of an end-of-the-bat hit and then a walk. And then Voth hits Trout. Coulombe makes a good pitch against Ohtani, kind of gets enough of the bat on it, and then he’s a great runner and we’re down by one.”

These are the calculations teams must make over the course of a long season. Everyone Hyde used in his top relievers’ stead has pitched in big spots and done so successfully. Within the next week, he could have a returning Mychal Givens or Dillon Tate to call on in those leverage spots.

Instead, missed opportunities cost them. Adam Frazier hit a one-out drive to the right-field wall in the ninth but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Cedric Mullins ended up on second base a batter later with a pinch-hit automatic double to bring Rutschman up as the go-ahead run, but the Angels automatically walked him to bring up Mountcastle, who struck out to end the game.

“We’ve been great late in games,” Mountcastle said. “It just happens sometimes.”

jon.meoli@thebaltimorebanner.com