In nearly half of the ballparks across the league, Blue Jays catcher Ali Sánchez’s sixth-inning fly ball would’ve been a home run. Not in Camden Yards.

Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins, whose defensive metrics have ticked down in recent years, balanced himself on the wall with his left arm. With his right, he snagged the baseball before it could fly out of his reach and over the fence.

Despite Mullins’s jaw-dropping play, the Orioles lost to the American League-leading Blue Jays, 9-8, and fell just shy of a four-game sweep.

“He makes it look so easy, man,” first baseman Ryan O’Hearn said of Mullins. “The best at that, specifically, and center fielder I’ve ever played with by far.”

For Baltimore, the sell-off before Thursday’s trade deadline has already begun, including a mid-doubleheader trade with the Jays on Tuesday, and Mullins is one of multiple Orioles drawing interest.

He went 2-for-4 with a single and a double in perhaps his final game as an Oriole. But the top highlight will be his sixth-inning snag, which helped minimize the damage against reliever Grant Wolfram in what was then a 5-4 game in Baltimore’s favor.

“Not just for me, for every pitcher that’s ever taken the mound with him patrolling center field, he’s been unbelievable out there,” Orioles starter Dean Kremer said. “And there’s not a play that he takes off, there’s not a ball that he thinks he can’t catch.”

Kremer left the game after five innings with a lead, but his start was mediocre. He gave up six hits and three earned runs, striking out five and walking two.

It was the bullpen’s seventh-inning struggles that got the team in trouble. Yennier Canó started the inning by allowing two consecutive singles. Both runners advanced on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. groundout, and Bo Bichette brought them home with a single to give the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead. Canó then hit Addison Barger with a pitch to put two on, and Nathan Lukes homered with two outs to put Toronto up by four.

Meanwhile, if today was O’Hearn’s last game in an Orioles uniform, he bid Baltimore farewell with a bang.

In the first inning, O’Hearn sent a pitch from Toronto right-hander José Berríos 388 feet over the right-field wall. (Cue the celebrations of both Baltimore and interested buyers across the league.)

The first baseman boasts a .294 batting average and .874 on-base-plus-slugging percentage against right-handed pitching, so it’s easy to see why teams from the Mariners to the Red Sox have reportedly expressed interest.

When asked whether today was more sentimental, O’Hearn answered honestly.

“Yeah, a little bit. Hard not to. It was a good game,” he said. “We battled all the way through, didn’t come out on top, but yeah, just trying to soak it in and enjoy the game with my teammates.”

For another trade target, the game finished with frustration. Outfielder Ramón Laureano pinch-hit in the seventh after Baltimore narrowed the deficit to one run. With a full count and bases loaded, he took a curveball on the seventh pitch of the at-bat that looked outside the zone. Instead, home plate umpire Vic Carapazza called it strike three.

Righty Andrew Kittredge, who has been talked about in mock trades, also made a late-game appearance. His quick 1-2-3 ninth inning kept the game within reach. But by then, the Orioles offense was out of runs, and the game ended unceremoniously (on an O’Hearn strikeout).

The reality of the deadline is clear for the team, even if it loses one or all of its trade candidates on expiring contracts.

“We’re probably going to lose a couple guys, but, you know, wish them the best. Nothing’s happened yet, so who knows. Maybe they’ll still be here,” Kremer said. “But you kind of just treat it like every other game, try to do as best as we can, try to win every ball game. That’s the goal, regardless of who the opponent is, time of year. That’s our job.”

No matter what happens during all the wheeling and dealing Thursday, the Orioles have expressed a desire for the younger members of the team — Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday — to step up to the plate and lead.

Cowser, Rutschman, Henderson and Holliday went 4-for-17. Westburg helped knock out Berríos after 4⅓ innings by smashing a two-run home run over the left-center wall in the fifth.

Losing veterans to the trade deadline feels inevitable for the Orioles, but interim manager Tony Mansolino believes in the future.

When asked pregame whether the younger Orioles were ready to be leaders in the clubhouse, Mansolino kept it simple: Yes.