So much of this languid month of play for the Orioles has been a departure from everything that made this team great earlier in the year. Before this funk, or slump — heck, collapse might be more apt here — the clear-eyed focus from this mix of veterans and young guns was apparent.

The defense was crisp. The hitting was lethal. The pitching was good enough to support both.

But on Saturday, in a 9-4 loss to the San Diego Padres that marked their 10th defeat across 14 games, two plays in particular showcased the lackadaisical nature of the Orioles. It began with a popup behind third base in the second inning and continued with an overthrow in the fourth inning.

Both times, shortstop Gunnar Henderson played a role. The superstar 22-year-old often drives this team forward in good times — and can drive it back in bad. Henderson, of course, didn’t have an All-Star break. He competed in the Home Run Derby and played in the All-Star Game, and he hasn’t had a day off since the second half of the season commenced. Perhaps that torrid pace is catching up with him.

“Yeah, but that’s no excuse,” Henderson said when asked whether fatigue was playing a role in his performances. “I haven’t been playing well. That’s pretty obvious. Just going out there and trying to work my butt off every day. It’s obviously not how I want to play, but stuff like this happens. So, just trying to work my butt off every day to get back to helping the team.”

If nothing else, Henderson has produced some un-Henderson-like plays, with three errors in three games. With 14 errors this season, Henderson has matched his 2023 total in 47 fewer games, although he is playing full time at shortstop, a more difficult position.

The first miscue was charged as an error to third baseman Ramón Urías, but the blame could go both ways.

With two outs in the second inning, right-hander Dean Kremer forced Kyle Higashioka into a shallow popup behind third base. What should’ve ended the inning instead brought home two runs — Henderson and Urías, both under the ball, collided. The ball hit the grass.

“Thought I called it loud enough,” Henderson said. “But, yeah, I guess he didn’t hear me. I gotta do a better job of calling it, I guess.”

And, in the fourth, a would-be inning-ending double play turned into a run when Henderson misfired on his throw to first. It sailed high and out of play, allowing a run to score. It’s possible an on-target throw wouldn’t have beaten Jurickson Profar to the bag, but the runner would’ve remained at third had that been the case.

Even in the third, when the lone earned run scored against Kremer, there was a case when a play should’ve been made. Xander Bogaerts hit a sharp grounder past Urías at third — he was unable to snare it or even keep it in the infield.

In all, Kremer was done in by the fielders behind him more than the batters in front of him.

“That’s part of the job,” Kremer said. “As a starter, it doesn’t matter how things kind of transpire. You have to be able to flush it and kind of keep going.”

Still, there’s frustration mounting in the clubhouse because of this stretch of play, manager Brandon Hyde said.

“It’s carrying over a little bit, I think,” Hyde said of the frustration. “Sometimes you have to have honest conversations as well as being supportive and positive. They’re really good players, and they’re gonna get through it.”

Kremer threw a season-high 105 pitches in six innings as part of what Hyde called his best start of the season. He allowed seven hits and one walk but would’ve worked around that traffic had plays been made.

Instead, the skid continues, with defensive lapses just one part of it.

“It’s not really one area,” Hyde said before the game. “We’ve played better defensively the first few months. We made big pitches in big spots more often. Didn’t make as many mistakes on the mound. And then, obviously, we hit, we walked more, we drove the baseball and hit better with runners in scoring position the first few months.”

All of those areas were on display Saturday as the Orioles fell to 12-18 since June 21. Outfielder Cedric Mullins’ two-out, two-run double off right-hander Stephen Kolek in the seventh avoided a shutout. He added a two-run shot off right-hander Logan Gillaspie in the ninth. But Baltimore managed two hits against right-hander Michael King, and while those runs were charged to King, he largely dominated the lineup through 6 1/3 innings.

King retired 18 of the first 20 batters he faced, and he racked up nine strikeouts. He forced several Orioles to wave and miss at pitches outside the strike zone.

And, while Kremer was solid through six, the Padres extended their lead in the seventh through Manny Machado, the former Orioles star. Left-hander Cole Irvin left a changeup in the middle of the zone, and Machado deposited the ball over the fence for a three-run homer. He recorded his 1,000th career RBI at the stadium in which his career began.

Zooming out, the Orioles are still leading their division. They’re fortunate the rest of the American League’s leaders are also in a mire. But the big picture, in this case, doesn’t inspire confidence when the fundamentals of the game have been as inconsistent as this in July.

“It’s not just the defense,” Kremer said. “I think every part of the game we’re kind of down right now — pitching, hitting, defense, all of it. And it’s kind of all at once. I think that’s what’s [contributing] to what’s been going on. But this hasn’t happened in three years? Four years? So things like these do happen. We are human. Things will start looking up here pretty soon.”