Although George Springer hit a solo home run in the top of the first, Friday’s game against the Houston Astros could not have started better for the Baltimore Orioles . Four of the first five batters they sent to the plate against Collin McHugh hit home runs. Four of the first five! That’s never been done before.

That bottom of the first inning went homer ( Adam Jones ), single ( Hyun Soo Kim ), homer ( Manny Machado ), homer ( Chris Davis ), homer ( Mark Trumbo ). Ouch. Rough start to the game for McHugh.

Here are the four home runs from that first inning:

Those four early home runs gave the Orioles a quick 5-1 lead over the Astros, a team they want to keep at bay in case they have to settle for a wild-card spot. The O’s have been slipping in the standings the last week or so, largely due to their suspect rotation.

Sure enough, that 5-1 lead didn’t last very long. Southpaw Wade Miley surrendered five runs in the top of the second inning to turn that 5-1 lead into a 6-5 deficit. Yikes. The Orioles hit four home runs in the first inning and their starter couldn’t get out of the second. Brutal.

Wade Miley had another rough start for the Orioles on Friday. USATSI

Ubaldo Jimenez (three runs in three innings), Tyler Wilson (four runs in two innings), and Vance Worley (two runs in two innings) were ineffective out of the bullpen in relief of Miley (six runs in 1 2/3 innings). So, despite that historic first inning, the Orioles still lost Friday’s game 15-8 (box score).

Following Miley’s dud — and he’s now allowed 19 runs in 17 innings since coming over at the trade deadline — Orioles starters have a 4.94 ERA on the season, sixth worst in baseball and third worst in the AL, ahead of only the Oakland Athletics (5.07) and Los Angeles Angels (5.04). Baltimore can obviously score runs, but they’re not going to be able to outscore their own rotation every night.

Friday’s loss dropped the O’s to 1 1/2 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. They’re one game back of the Boston Red Sox for the first wild-card spot and have a 2 1/2-game lead over the Seattle Mariners for the second wild card. Check out the top three AL East teams though:

All three clubs have well-above-average offenses. The Blue Jays have by far the best pitching staff of the three. The Red Sox and O’s are allowing roughly the same number of runs per game, but Boston is scoring almost three quarters of a run per game more than Baltimore. I feel much better about the Red Sox’s chances going forward because of that.

Looking at these three clubs, the Orioles clearly lag behind the Blue Jays and Red Sox, and that is reflected in the standings now. They’ve slipped into third place after spending most of the season in first. Not even a tremendous bullpen, led by all-world closer Zach Britton , is enough to allow Buck Showalter’s team to keep runs off the board regularly.

The O’s rotation has not giving Buck Showalter much to celebrate in 2016. USATSI

Friday night, the Orioles used an ineffective starter (Miley) and three pitchers who flunked out of their rotation earlier this season (Jimenez, Wilson, Worley). Once every five days Showalter can rest easy because Chris Tillman is on the mound, but the other four days his club is just trying to survive a poor rotation. That’s not a recipe for contention.

The good news is the O’s have built up a bit of a cushion for a postseason spot. Surely they want to win the AL East after sitting in first place all year, though that figures to be tough to do unless some of their starters unexpectedly right the ship in a hurry. Getting into the playoffs is the most important thing.

Baltimore’s big weakness reared its ugly head Friday night when Miley couldn’t get out of the second inning. The offense does its job night after night, and Britton is as good as anyone closing out games, but there hasn’t been nearly enough competent starting pitching in 2016. It’s amazing the O’s are where are they, really.