This has happened so infrequently since Trevor Rogers returned to the Orioles rotation last season that four runs seemed momentous.

In 18 starts last year, the Baltimore left-hander allowed more than two runs twice. He allowed more than three once. Rogers was dominant until his final appearance in 2025, when he conceded six runs against the New York Yankees.

What happened Tuesday night would hardly be worth a second glance for many pitchers. Rogers allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings. Sure, he gave up nine hits, but who doesn’t have an off night? And this wasn’t some capitulation on the mound, nor some disaster from which the Orioles couldn’t rescue themselves.

It’s only a story, then, because of how good Rogers has been.

On this un-Rogers-like night, the Orioles (9-8) lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks (10-8), 4-3.

“This game is really hard, and that’s why I just try to stay even-keeled the best I can,” Rogers said. “Those starts are going to happen, and we have five-and-a-half, six more months of this, and in baseball, it’s going to happen again.”

After the emotional comeback win a night earlier — which included manager Craig Albernaz breaking his jaw and suffering at least seven fractures in his face because of a foul ball that struck him — this game felt a little flatter until late, when Baltimore flirted with another comeback.

The Monday night grand slam hero was at the plate with the bases loaded again. With two outs in the eighth inning Tuesday, Jeremiah Jackson swung at a first-pitch slider hanging up in the zone. But he didn’t time it correctly and hit a dribbler to right-hander Ryan Thompson, who threw Jackson out at first to maintain a one-run edge.

Still, there was life earlier in the game. Catcher Samuel Basallo homered and outfielder Leody Taveras produced two RBIs, one with a bases-loaded walk in the third and another with a single in the eighth.

Had Jackson come through for a second straight game, the modest crowd at Camden Yards might’ve made enough noise to simulate a packed house. As it is, the Orioles settled for only their second loss in eight games.

Rogers wasn’t poor, although this wasn’t his best performance by far. Despite forcing whiffs on 37% of the swings Diamondbacks batters took against him, Rogers’ fastball didn’t fool many hitters. He allowed four of his nine hits off his four-seamer. Another three came against his changeup.

“It looks like the changeup had some different profiles as he was throwing it throughout the course of the game,” said Albernaz, who noted that the two different shapes from that same pitch may have led to one of the wild pitches that got past Basallo.

But the biggest blow came on a sweeper, even though Rogers said he was happy with the location.

In the fifth inning, with two runners on base, Rogers’ offering didn’t slide off the plate. It remained in the zone, albeit low, and Ildemaro Vargas lofted it over the left-field fence for a three-run home run. It was the first homer against Rogers this season.

“I thought he popped it up and it just kept going,” said Rogers, who calls his sweeper a curveball as a mental cue, to remind him of his preferred release point.

Another run scored later in the inning when Rogers left a belt-high fastball in the middle of the zone for Jose Fernandez to smack to the deepest part of center field. It hit the wall and scored one, but it was nearly a second homer against a pitcher who has largely avoided hard contact this season.

That wasn’t the case last year. Even though Rogers posted a 1.81 ERA in his 109 2/3 innings, he ranked in the bottom-3 percentile in hard contact rate, according to Statcast, with 48.4% of the contact against him in 2025 leaving bats at 95 mph or harder.

“Body felt good, stuff was good, just, those ground balls didn’t go my way and kind of lost my command on my fastball that fifth inning and I just tried to dig myself out of a hole and I did too much,” Rogers said. “Just learn from it and be ready again in five or six days.”

Perhaps there is always the risk of falling back to earth, but at this point, concern around one poor outing from Rogers is premature. He has showcased that a lack of strikeouts and whiffs doesn’t prevent him from recording outs, particularly when his command is on point.

The issue, of course, is when his command isn’t as solid. The sweeper that didn’t quite run enough, the fastball that stayed in the heart of the zone — those are mistakes that can prove costly, and they were Tuesday.

During spring training, Rogers said that one of his primary focuses over the winter was improving his mechanics out of the stretch. He didn’t frequently have runners on base last year, so he largely pitched out of the full windup. But Tuesday, Arizona had runners on base all five innings against Rogers.

Those few mistake pitches came with runners on base, with Rogers pitching out of the stretch.

In the small sample this season offers, Rogers has been more susceptible with runners on base. With the bases clear during his first three starts, opponents managed a .413 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. That rose to .712 with runners on — hardly problematic, but a rise.

His fastball misses may have been because of his mechanics out of the stretch.

“I was not allowing my foot to land when I was trying to throw my heaters, so my command on that kind of slipped a bit,” Rogers said. “But that is something that can be cleaned up.”

What doesn’t need to be cleaned up is anything from right-hander Rico Garcia, who hasn’t allowed a hit in nine innings out of the bullpen this year.

Unlike many relievers who aim for hitters to chase pitches, Garcia has profited from living in the strike zone. His chase rate is in the bottom 1 percentile, per Statcast. That’s by design.

“Kind of learned that lesson in previous years where I tried to get that chase,” Garcia said. “Not seeing that chase kind of helped me learn that I’m not the kind of pitcher that gets chased. My stuff plays better when going right after guys. Just kind of developing my arsenal to do that, I think, has helped a lot.”

Perhaps there’s something about that area of the clubhouse. Rogers and Garcia have their lockers next to each other. For most of their appearances for Baltimore over the last year, they’ve been nearly flawless.

One night in which Rogers looks more human is no cause for panic.