MIAMI — This would be a game to forget as an off night in a 162-game slog, but there will be no forgetting a game with as painful a consequence as this. When a do-it-all second baseman and a steady veteran pitcher leave within a minute or so of each other in the third inning, the loss to follow feels even more deflating.

The steam seemed to seep out of the Orioles in that third inning, after infielder Jorge Mateo gripped his throbbing left elbow and right-hander Albert Suárez slowly walked to the dugout. The two injury departures — occurring just one batter apart — overshadowed a comeback effort and left Baltimore with a series-opening 6-3 loss to the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park on Tuesday night.

“We just did not play well,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “And we haven’t been playing our best baseball for a while for me right now. We made a lot of mistakes early in the game. We ran ourselves out of innings twice. We need to play better.”

Since June 1, the Orioles are 23-21 — a near-.500 team as the trade deadline approaches in one week. Even with that faltering form, Baltimore holds a narrow lead in the American League East.

But a performance such as Tuesday’s doesn’t inspire confidence in maintaining that position unless reinforcements are added or a spark is lit.

“Just equate that to baseball doing its thing,” outfielder Cedric Mullins said. “There’s always going to be moments where you go through struggles, sometimes all at the same time. It’s just one of those things where the fight that you play tomorrow, you got to flush it and get ready to get after it.”

The Marlins hit around Suárez before the 102 mph line drive from Otto Lopez crashed against his lower right leg (after the game, Hyde said Suárez has a shin contusion and will be fine). The 34-year-old, whose surprise inclusion as a rotation arm has buoyed a starting pitching corps rocked by injuries already, allowed four runs in the second inning.

It began with Jesús Sánchez’s 429-foot home run and continued with two singles, a walk and a Jazz Chisholm Jr. double. After Baltimore scratched back into the contest, Miami added on to Suárez’s line in the third.

Suárez left with bases loaded and no outs after three straight singles, and even though left-hander Keegan Akin recorded three consecutive outs, two inherited runs scored.

“They are a very aggressive team and I think I was just leaving the ball over the plate and then, just because they are aggressive, they were taking advantage of that,” Suárez said.

Part of that third-inning onslaught came when Mateo and shortstop Gunnar Henderson crashed into each other diving for a ball behind second base. Mateo’s arm twisted and he soon left in clear pain. After the game, Hyde said an X-ray of Mateo’s arm came back negative. Further testing is needed, he said, before an update can be given.

In the early going, the Orioles appeared poised to produce against right-hander Kyle Tyler. Jordan Westburg knocked a two-out RBI single in the first inning, and while the Marlins took a lead in the second, the Orioles plated two more runs in the top of the third with singles from Ryan O’Hearn and Colton Cowser.

But they also left opportunities on the bases. In the second inning, Ryan Mountcastle reached third base with no outs. He was stranded. Cowser’s hustle helped him bring home a third-inning run, but he was thrown out trying to reach third on a subsequent single.

“Couldn’t get any sort of rally going,” Hyde said. “We took some pretty good at-bats first few innings and then kind of went stale after that.”

Former Oriole Tanner Scott, considered one of the top trade chips in the reliever market, pitched a clean ninth inning to earn his 17th save for Miami. There wasn’t much Baltimore could muster against the Miami bullpen, and Scott shut the door emphatically with two strikeouts.

“It’s as advertised,” Hyde said. “We saw Tanner have some really good moments with us, and showed that kind of stuff with us, with the high-90s fastball and slider.”