The Guardians scored in each of the first three innings tonight and put six runs on the board before the Orioles collected a hit.

What looked like a demoralizing rout instead began to fill with drama and excitement, which made it harder for the Orioles to accept the empty feeling they carried back to their clubhouse.

Three unearned runs off reliever Alex Hoppe in the top of the seventh quieted the comeback attempt in a 9-5 loss to Cleveland before an announced 13,279 at Camden Yards.

The series concludes Wednesday night, followed by an off-day and three games in Toronto.

Among the crowd were scouts whose teams are prepping for the postseason or filing reports on players who might be available over the winter. The Orioles didn’t improve their chances of staying busy in October. They’re 70-76 with seven losses in their last eight games, and they’re four behind the Guardians again for the last Wild Card.

They also lost the season series to the Guardians, who own the tie-breaker.

“I felt like we know, I mean, it’s right there in front of us,” said Gunnar Henderson, who came out of the game in the eighth inning after fouling a ball off his left knee. “We win ballgames, we’re going to put ourselves right in it, right there. I mean, we’re in it right now. But obviously, it comes down to winning ballgames, and that’s all we can do at this point. It’s pretty plain and simple. Win ballgames.”

Pete Alonso’s 34th homer was a two-run shot off Tanner Bibee in the fifth that cut the lead to 6-5. Bibee went from cruising to bruising with five runs allowed after he retired the first nine batters on 29 pitches.

Hoppe entered in the seventh and put the first two runners on base with a single and walk. Nathaniel Lowe struck out and Angel Martínez grounded to Alonso, whose throw to second base hit Jo Adell on the back of the helmet. José Ramírez scored, Adell went to third, and a sacrifice bunt and walk loaded the bases.

Brayan Rocchio worked the count full and delivered a two-run single to give Cleveland a 9-5 lead.

Bibee is tied with Shane Baz for most losses in the majors with 15. He received the worst run support before tonight at 3.03, with Baz next at 3.14. But his teammates finally took good care of him.

Jackson Holliday led off the fourth with a double, Alonso singled and Coby Mayo walked with one out. Holliday scored on Samuel Basallo’s grounder, but Dylan Beavers flied out on the first pitch.

The Orioles showed life but didn’t bust out.

Doubles by Blaze Alexander and Leody Taveras in the fifth inched the Orioles closer. Taveras was hitless in his last 19 at-bats. Taveras raced home on Holliday’s single that was deflected by first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and initially ruled an error, and the lead shrank to 6-3.

Bibee threw a cutter to Alonso and watched it fly 420 feet to left field at 107.1 mph. Alonso pointed at the dugout. He wasn’t letting this team expire without a fight.

His error, within a Gold Glove-caliber season, probably made Alonso beat up himself afterward.

“The play with Pete, looking at it in real time, it looked like he caught the ball farther back to get the play to second,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “He came in, we talked, we looked at it, and yeah, that’s a play he should’ve went to first. I didn’t realize he was in that close when he fielded it at the line. I thought he was back a little more. But when he fielded it, Adell made a heady baserunning play. But ultimately, should’ve gotten the out at first rather than force that, because the base line, you can go as egregious as you want.”

Henderson and Alexander hurting

Gunnar Henderson left the game in the eighth inning after fouling a ball off his left knee.

Assistant athletic trainer Ben Fraser came out of the dugout to check on Henderson, who finished his plate appearance by drawing a walk against Hunter Gaddis.

Henderson labored on his way to second base on a ground ball and headed to the dugout. He had the knee wrapped in a compression sleeve afterward and was walking with a limp, but downplayed the severity of the injury.

“I mean, it should be just day-to-day, honestly. See how it feels in the morning. So, yeah, didn’t feel great running out there, but we’ll see how it feels in the morning,” Henderson said.

“Right now, it’s fine. It’s just when I was trying to stop out there, it really didn’t feel good, and yeah, should be day-to-day and should be fine tomorrow. We’ll see.”

Said Albernaz: “If anyone’s gotten hit there, it locks up pretty good. And Gunnar being how tough he is tried to gut it out, but running to second base, it just didn’t look right.”

Catcher Carlos Narváez pinch-ran and played second base for the first time as a professional, with Holliday moving to shortstop. Christian Encarnacion-Strand replaced Alexander at third base.

Alexander’s back began to spasm and “locked up on him,” Albernaz said, after he fielded a bunt in the seventh inning.

“So that’s kind of like the cascading moves with everything,” Albernaz said.

Why Narváez?

“Someone had to play second,” Albernaz said. “Also, I forgot where we were. I think it was at home, actually. He was taking ground balls at second and he looked good. I have a bias toward catchers, thinking they can play anywhere, so Narváez does have infield history when he was young and he looked good out there. We needed someone to go out there and play and just catch the ball.”

The Orioles could recall Jeremiah Jackson, who homered tonight with Triple-A Norfolk, if they run short of infielders.

Basallo was wincing on a couple of swings because of some right shoulder soreness, and Fraser checked on him behind the plate after the rookie was hit by a backswing.

“He’s still dealing with some right shoulder soreness. I think it’s just soreness,” Albernaz said. “We’re checking on him throughout the game. He said he was fine. But yeah, I saw the same thing as you guys. I was talking to him pretty much after every inning to kind of see where he was at. He wouldn’t come out and said he was fine. He had a few backswings and foul tips. Life of a catcher.”

Young bloodied

The pitch, the sound and the reaction encapsulated Brandon Young’s start tonight in a matter of seconds.

The Orioles already were down 2-0 in the second inning when Travis Bazzana worked the count full and laid the barrel on a four-seamer. The contact was loud, and Young drifted to the right side of the infield and lowered his head before the ball disappeared among fans reaching for it in the first few rows of seats.

Three more runs scored and Young wasn’t going to bounce back.

Petey Halpin added an RBI single in the third inning for Cleveland’s eighth hit.

Young registered quality starts in back-to-back outings, but he allowed a season-high six earned runs and matched his shortest outing at 3 2/3 innings. He walked two, struck out two, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter.

“Felt good, pretty pissed off. Didn’t do my job, and there’s not excuse for it,” Young said.

“Just put some balls in the middle of the plate. They made me pay for it. No, I feel good, no excuse for it.”

Taveras tracked Steven Kwan’s fly ball in deep right-center field in the top of the first inning but couldn’t catch up to it, and Adell’s two-out single gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead.

Martínez led off the second with a triple on a ball that kicked off the right field stands and rolled past Taveras, who lost his footing and chased it along the warning track. Patrick Bailey and Halpin followed with singles, Rocchio laid down a sacrifice bunt, Kwan’s grounder to Holliday produced an out at the plate, and Bazzana scalded the ninth pitch of his at-bat.

Young’s 96.6 mph four-seamer was driven into the right field seats at 107.5 mph off the bat.

A one-out walk to Lowe in the third also hurt Young. Martínez singled, Bailey struck out and Halpin lined a first-pitch fastball into right field.

Young came back out for the fourth at 66 pitches, and the bullpen finally became active with Grant Wolfram warming. The Guardians didn’t add to their hit total but put two runners on base with a walk and hit batter. Wolfram entered after Young’s 86th pitch.

Wolfram retired all four batters faced and rookie Luis De León tossed a scoreless sixth. The bullpen didn’t allow an earned run in 5 1/3 innings. Four Guardians relievers kept the Orioles scoreless and hitless over 4 2/3.

Down on the farm                  

High-A Frederick pummeled Greensboro 13-1 in the opener of the best-of-three playoff series. Ty Head, the second-round draft pick this year, hit his first South Atlantic League homer and added a two-run single. Enddy Azocar’s first homer was a three-run shot. Boston Bateman allowed one run and two hits in five innings and struck out 10.

Vance Honeycut keeps thriving with Double-A Chesapeake, hitting his fourth and fifth home runs and collecting his 12th and 13th extra-base hits in 17 games. Ethan Anderson hit his 20th, a three-run shot in the second inning, and Aron Estrada belted his 24th.