Another night when a lack of runs leads to a loss

Just when you think the Orioles offense has to start putting up some runs, they don't. Now of course, they faced Max Scherzer last night, and he fanned 12 over eight scoreless in the Washington Nationals' 2-0 victory.

But the Orioles scored only two runs on 20 hits in the series and were shut out twice They have now been shut out six times this season, including three times in their last 11 games. The Orioles went 1-for-10 during the Washington series when batting with runners in scoring postion. They had few chances, and when they did have them, they failed to come through.

The Orioles are the worst offense in the American League and no team averages fewer than Baltimore's 3.73 runs per game. The Orioles rank 13th in the AL in team batting average, at .231. They rank 15th and last in OBP (.293), slugging (.384) and OPS (.678).

The once power-laden O's offense is last in the league in slugging and OPS. They can't even count on homers anymore. The Orioles have gone without a homer in four of their last five and six of their last nine games. They are now 1-20 when they don't hit a homer, and yes that is terrible.

The Orioles hit 232 home runs last season to rank fifth in the major leagues. As of now, they've hit 64 home runs this season to rank tied for ninth in the American League. They are on pace to hit just 185. This from the team that led the majors in homers in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Chris Davis is getting crushed daily throughout Birdland for his terrible season. He's not alone, but he is now 4-for-41 with 20 strikeouts over his last 12 games, and 7-for-61 with 29 strikeouts over his last 18 games.

Davis probably won't get any props among the fan base for saying last night of the offense that, "I don't think anything is necessarily wrong."

Clearly a lot is wrong, but yeah, identifying it exactly and/or fixing it has been a season-long problem for players and coaches alike, including manager Buck Showalter. He has continued to bat Davis in run-producing spots in the order, only to watch him continue to not come through.

The Orioles wasted three quality starts they got in the Nats series. Alex Cobb, Dylan Bundy and David Hess combined to allow seven runs over 19 innings, but each starter took a loss.

"Every night, we try to go out and execute a game plan," Davis said. "The guys we face are good, man. Our lineup, at times, can be very one-dimensional. We have a lot of sluggers, and when we are swinging it, it looks pretty good. But when we're not, it is tough to come by runs. We just have to continue to grind. We are not even close to where we want to be. But that's when we find out who the real players are here, and that's when we find out, really, the guts of the team.

"I know there has been some talk about a rebuild. But we have to live in the here and now. That is taking positives away from every night and rallying around each other. And that is all you can do."

Yes, there should be talk about rebuilding. The Orioles' current roster has proven not to be nearly good enough, and something has to change.