Chris Bassitt will have much better days and nights with the Orioles.

But he only gets one debut.

Bassitt threw 100 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, trying his best to spare the bullpen in a 5-2 loss to the Rangers before an announced crowd of 11,209 at Camden Yards. He allowed four runs in the first two innings but kept Texas scoreless over the next 2 1/3.

Manager Craig Albernaz let Bassitt come back out for the fifth at 92 pitches, and he summoned left-hander Dietrich Enns after a walk and strikeout. Enns struck out four batters in 1 2/3 scoreless innings, including pinch-hitter Andrew McCutchen to strand runners on the corners in the sixth.

“Mix pitches up better, but I mean, execution-wise today, I was awful,” Bassitt said when asked about getting better results after the second. “So, I mean, we mixed it up a little bit more, but overall it was just, execution was really bad.”

Tyler Wells allowed a run in the ninth and has been scored upon in all three appearances. Josh Smith had a bloop RBI single, at 67.9 mph, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.

Gunnar Henderson hit his first home run, a 410-foot shot to center field off Jack Leiter at 105.3 mph to tie the game in the bottom of the first inning. It also was Henderson’s first RBI after he began the season 1-for-12 with six strikeouts. Adley Rutschman doubled with two outs but Tyler O’Neill lined to short.

Three batters into the second inning, the Rangers had another lead and the Orioles had some explaining to do.

Evan Carter led off with a double, Kyle Higashioka walked and Brandon Nimmo grounded a single into right-center field. Dylan Beavers cut off the ball and threw to second as Carter rounded third. Carter held up, saw Blaze Alexander applying a late tag to Higashioka and dashed home, diving across the plate to beat that throw.

The Rangers added two more runs to lead 4-1 on Jake Burger’s RBI single and Joc Pederson’s sacrifice fly. Bassitt threw 60 pitches in two innings.

Bassitt’s first inning as an Oriole also didn’t go as planned. He threw 29 pitches, allowed a run and committed a throwing error, but he also left the bases loaded to limit damage.

The first two batters singled and moved up on Corey Seager’s grounder to Alexander, who took the out at first base. Bassitt snagged Burger’s high bouncer and spiked a throw home as Nimmo scored. A strikeout, walk and groundout completed the inning.

“It was just more so, I know Nimmo is fast,” Bassitt said. “I played with Nimmo. I grabbed the ball out of my glove and I just didn’t have a grip at all on it, so I didn’t think I had time to try to readjust it, so I just tried to get rid of it and, obviously, not great.”

The third was much calmer. Carter singled with one out and was stranded in a 15-pitch inning. Nimmo, batting for the third time, struck out on a cutter. And Burger was stranded in a 17-pitch fourth after Bassitt hit him with a 69.1 mph curveball with two outs.

“Command wasn’t sharp early,” Albernaz said. “The first inning they did a good job of getting the ball forward. Some soft contact that found holes. I think Bassitt would like to have that PFP back, that throw home, but other than that … The walks hurt, but he battled and pitched us into the fifth, which was big for us, especially with the bullpen the way it was.”

Bassitt allowed six hits, walked four and struck out three. His last start of 4 1/3 innings was his final one with the Blue Jays on Sept. 18.

“A little too fast,” he said. “Probably a little too excited out of the gates. But yeah, execution on specific pitches that I need was just not good. … Definitely not happy just eating as many innings as I did, but the pitch count, it’s whatever. It’s only going 4 1/3 or whatever that’s not great.”

Rutschman’s double was the last Orioles hit until Colton Cowser’s infield single in the fifth after he challenged a called third strike and got it overturned. Leiter had retired 11 of 12 with seven strikeouts. Alexander singled, Taylor Ward flied out and Henderson collected another RBI with a two-out single.

Leiter allowed two runs and five hits and struck out eight batters over six innings.

“I think the first inning, he was throwing a lot of heaters, which we expected,” said Coby Mayo. “He’s a primarily fastball-dominant pitcher, and I think once we put some swings on it, he started switching to more offspeed, which we kind of figured he might do that if we were ambushing the fastball. To his credit, he was throwing the slider in good spots, started whipping out the cutter a little bit more to righties more than he has ever. And then, changeup was working. So I think he was just putting some of the pitches in good spots, and just a credit to him. It was a good night for him.”

The Orioles wasted eighth-inning singles by Ward and Pete Alonso.

“I think when our top of the order is up, it’s always a pivotal moment, especially with those four at the top,” Albernaz said. “We did a good job battling. Got good pitches to hit, but then we just couldn’t cash in when we needed to. But our guys, the at-bats are still there. It’s just, we’re just a click off right now. And that’s something where, when our offense gets going, I think that’s, once everyone kind of starts clicking and stays with himself and passes the baton, I think that’s where our offense is really going to take off.”

Rico Garcia retired all six batters he faced, striking out three.

Asked about Enns and Garcia, Bassitt said, “I mean, very, very happy they did what they did. They’ve been great. It’s just, I don’t want to put them in that spot, so it’s just frustrating. But I’m very happy they’re doing well.”

“That was big,” Albernaz said. “They stepped up. That’s what the ’pen guys do. It’s a thankless job out there. When stuff doesn’t go their way, they [get] lot of criticism. But when they throw well, they usually don’t get any praise. But those guys are out there, it’s a thankless job and they’re ready to go. They’re ready to pitch. It was great for those guys to get out there and cover some innings, get some outs for us.”

The Orioles threw 181 pitches. In nine-inning games last year, Rangers opponents exceeded that total only four times.

*This is the third time in his career that Bassitt has thrown 100 pitches or more in his first start.

*Tonight’s game featured five ABS challenges, compared to 10 yesterday in the Orioles’ 8-6 victory over the Twins.

The Orioles were successful in all three of their challenges tonight and five of six yesterday. The most controversial involved closer Ryan Helsley, who got a ball overturned to a third strike on Josh Bell. Twins manager Derek Shelton was ejected after arguing that Helsley didn’t make an immediate appeal.

“I didn’t think Helsley tapped his cap quick enough,” Shelton said. “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, but I didn’t feel he did. I feel like it’s gotta be something within the three seconds, and I didn’t think it was there. But the umpiring crew thought it was.”

Helsley said today that he paused to see whether catcher Adley Rutschman would tap his helmet.

“I tried to react, had a plan in my head and felt like I executed it and we challenged it,” Helsley said.

“They’re right there, they’re the closest ones to it. As a pitcher you’re moving pretty fast on the mound and your vision of the ball across the plate’s not gonna be as good as the catcher’s. So I think trusting your catcher is the way to go.”

Maybe so, but Helsley enjoys having the freedom to do it.

“Over the course of my career there’s been a few times I wish I had that option,” he said, “and obviously it paid off yesterday.”

Helsley isn’t worried that the ABS system is slowing down a game that Major League Baseball has tried to speed up with the pitch clock and some new rules.

“I think true baseball fans don’t really care,” he said. “I think they just want the right call.”