The Orioles need wins in order to avoid selling at the trade deadline.

Their frustrations this season have spilled into the no-hit zone.

Jacob deGrom was the latest starter to flummox them, retiring the first 18 batters tonight before Jackson Holliday’s leadoff walk in the seventh. Colton Cowser let the dugout exhale with a ground ball single leading off the eighth, and deGrom came out of the game.

The Rangers gave him a seven-run lead, which is like gift vouchers for a billionaire. Don’t need ‘em.

The Orioles managed only one hit and were shut out for the eighth time in a 7-0 loss before an announced Pride Night crowd of 22,828 at Camden Yards.

Two straight losses in the series and four in the last five games dropped the Orioles to 34-46. They're 3-10 in rubber games. 

“He’s been one of the best since he got in the league," said Jordan Westburg, who returned to the lineup after spraining his left index finger Saturday. "It’s a really good fastball, it’s a really good slider, it’s a really good changeup. It’s plus command, putting it where he wants to and a mix of all three pitches at any time in any quadrant of the strike zone. I feel like he’s always in control. That’s what it feels like up there.

"That was my first time facing him. It’s a lot of fun saying I got to face Jacob deGrom, especially the way he looked today. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t do more offensively.”

"He had his plus-plus stuff tonight," Cowser said, "locating his slider really well, pitching off of it with his changeup more so than he has in the past, and you know locating a heater when he needed to. You know anytime a guy like that who has a heater like that is able to locate his two other pitches like that, you know it’s going to be a challenge. So yeah, it was a little bit of a relief." 

The Yankees’ Clarke Schmidt held the Orioles hitless for seven innings on Saturday and Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz did it for six last night. deGrom is a two-time Cy Young Award winner who tossed a complete-game one-hitter in Philadelphia in 2016 and held the Cardinals to one hit in eight innings a year earlier. His ERA is down to 2.08 in 16 outings.

"It’s baseball, I’m not concerned about it," Cowser said. "You know, I think that every day we’re just trying to go out there and execute a plan and approach, and sometimes if a pitcher is able to get us outside of that approach we’re not going to have as much success. I think you’ve seen that a little bit lately, but you know we’re going stay and remain confident in this clubhouse, just trying to stick to it and showing up everyday and seeing what’s going to happen." 

Interim manager Tony Mansolino was fast to credit deGrom rather than lament about the offense. 

"I think tonight’s probably separate from the other ones," he said. "Tonight’s all Jacob deGrom. I think a good illustration of how good that guy is is, obviously, you guys see the fastball velocity and the ability to locate the fastball velocity. The catcher isn’t setting up in the middle part of the plate like a lot of major league catchers you see across the game right now. He’s setting up on the edges, and he’s hitting his locations.

"I was talking to Gunnar (Henderson) in the eighth inning and Gunnar made me aware, and I didn’t realize it, that he had had three at-bats and had not seen one fastball. So here’s a guy that locates 100 in the big leagues and Gunnar Henderson doesn’t get one of those fastballs. When he’s on, that might be the toughest at-bat in the big leagues right now. You saw it tonight."

The Orioles have been no-hit through six innings in consecutive games for the second time in franchise history, the other in 1964. 

"I think there’s a little bit of fatigue right now," Mansolino said. "This has been a grind. I think you can attribute a little bit of that to that. I think guys are trying to win. I think there’s a little bit of, not anxiety, but maybe a tick of pressing at times. I think the other one was Clarke Schmidt, right, that did it recently? He’s pretty good, too.

"I know people don’t talk about him as a 1 or a 2 even, but when you look at the numbers he’s putting up, he might be. So I think we ran into some good pitching here recently. I think guys are a little bit tired. In this mix, too, we’ve scored some runs at certain points, too, so it hasn’t been every night. Just a tough night. But it’s Jacob deGrom. That’s what happened tonight."

Asked about the level of frustration, Westburg replied, "If you look at it that way, it’s frustrating. Grand scheme of things, I thought we’ve been playing some pretty good baseball the last couple weeks. We had a good offensive Game 1 behind a great pitching performance from Trev (Trevor Rogers). I choose to look at the positives here. Off-day tomorrow, reset, come out with a big series against the Rays.”

Ryan O’Hearn walked with two outs in the seventh to earn deGrom a mound visit, but Gary Sánchez grounded into a force. Cowser punched a 98.9 mph fastball on a 1-1 count through the right side of the infield in the eighth and received an ovation from a crowd that would rather skip the history lesson.

Leadoff hitters keep rescuing the Orioles – Sánchez on Saturday, Ramón Laureano last night and Holliday and Cowser tonight.

Cowser said his mindset at the plate didn't change based on the hit total.

"No, not really," he said. "Sure, it can be in the back of your mind, but it’s just one of those things that you know people have 0-fers and a situation where it’s no-hitter then everyone is 0-fer. So no, nothing really changes, just trying to get a good pitch to hit and get something going." 

Rookie Brandon Young was charged with four runs and five hits in four-plus innings in his third major league start. Mansolino removed him after 61 pitches.

deGrom put on a clinic and Young had a close view of it.

“It’s pretty cool," he said. "I’m in the dugout. I’m trying to focus on my job, but looking out there and seeing that guy, it’s pretty cool. My first start was Hunter Greene, second was Casey Mize, third is deGrom. That’s some pretty good pitchers to look at and learn from at the end of the day.” 

What’s next for Young is part of the puzzle. The Orioles have six starters and seven relievers, but that setup isn’t sustainable. And off-days Thursday, July 3 and July 7 allow the club to tweak the rotation.

Young could be optioned again or sent to the bullpen for bulk relief. Cade Povich is eligible to return on Tuesday but will need a rehab assignment.

The starters for the weekend Rays series are confirmed as Tomoyuki Sugano, Zach Eflin and Dean Kremer. Trevor Rogers and Charlie Morton would start next week in Texas. The Orioles want to give Sugano extra rest when possible to mimic his schedule in Japan.

Scott Blewett replaced Young and let an inherited runner score and two of his own for a 6-0 Rangers lead. Corey Seager and Marcus Semien had RBI singles. Former Orioles minor league catcher Jonah Heim homered onto the flag court in the sixth. The Rangers weren’t in a hurry to get deGrom out of the dugout.

Young fell behind 2-0 to Josh Jung in the second and allowed a run-scoring single on a 94.5 mph fastball. A clean, 10-pitch first inning was followed by 24 pitches in the second and included Semien’s leadoff double and Heim’s two-out double.

The Rangers were retired in order on 11 pitches in the third, with Seager striking out on a changeup to end the frame, and Young got two outs on two pitches in the fourth before Evan Carter singled on the first pitch and Jung drove an 0-2 changeup into the seats in right field.

Eight-pitch innings usually go better than that.

 “Just the experience again," Young, who had a shoulder injury with Triple-A Norfolk, said when asked what he took away from his start. "Grateful to be out there, grateful to be healthy again, come back. Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way I pictured it. Disappointing is all. Good to get back out there. It’s awesome to try to give my team a chance to win at the end of the day.”

Left fielder Alejandro Osuna made a leaping catch at the fence to rob Holliday in the third, a 365-foot out that was by far the closest that the Orioles came to a baserunner before the eighth. deGrom opened the fifth with a pair of strikeouts and fielded Cowser’s slow roller.

The offense also must take accountability, no matter who's on the mound, for the first stretch in the majors of no hits through six innings in three of five games since 1974, per STATS.

"I think when you see how these guys prepare every day and how they go about their business and what the intensity level is in the dugout, there’s a ton of accountability," Mansolino said. "But it’s still baseball, and you have tough nights at certain times. So I don’t think accountability is anywhere near the right word for what it is. I think it’s just a tough few nights, to be honest with you.

"Again, you go, you see the process, you see how these guys work, you see the preparation physically, the game plan preparation, it’s as good as anybody’s in the big leagues. I think missing Adley (Rutschman) for a little bit, that certainly doesn’t help. It’s a tough at-bat in the middle of the game. We got Westy back in there tonight, he’s been out for a few games. It’s tough. I wouldn’t look too deep into it. It’s a really strange week. I think as you guys watch baseball on a nightly basis over the course of the year, really weird things happen all the time, and I probably attribute three days like this to that.

"I think they were a little baffled tonight by deGrom. I mean, the stuff was so good. ... We talked about it the last time this happened, there’s a lot of pride involved. They don’t want to get hit. The energy level actually goes up. You hit the fifth, sixth inning, it’s the anti-jinx. It’s saying, ‘Hey, he’s throwing a perfect game.’ Usually when you’re throwing one, you don’t say anything, so they’re trying to do the opposite. I, personally, knowing how hard everybody works on a daily basis and what the accountability level is normally, it’s just baseball. You tip your caps some nights. It’s a strange week. We’ll probably come out next week and score 100 runs in a week or something." 

deGrom's night ended with no runs, one hit, two walks and seven strikeouts over 89 pitches. The Orioles ended up inside another quiet clubhouse.

“Just trying to keep everybody up," Westburg said. "Baseball can swing really fast. You saw it last night. It didn’t go our way, but it can happen like that (snaps fingers). So the vibe is just stay positive, reinforce each other after good ABs, even after bad ones. Pick each other up. Try to stay positive.

"It can be frustrating if you let it be. I know there’s guys going through tough stretches, not performing like they want to, but you’ve got to have each other’s backs. We’ve got to stay as one group and one unit because like you saw last night, it just takes one. Cowser gets on there, breaks up the no-hitter, who knows what happens when deGrom comes out. It didn’t go our way, but you never know with baseball.”

* Asked about his finger, Westburg said, “It’s all right, it’s good enough.”

* Down on the farm, Jorge Mateo appeared in his first injury rehab game with Norfolk and hit a two-run homer in the third inning. He went 1-for-3.