The pomp of the Orioles’ Hall of Fame induction set up for a vibrant atmosphere at Camden Yards on Saturday night. There were speeches from former outfielders Adam Jones and Joe Orsulak and former broadcaster Tom Davis. The 30,778 fans present belted out their appreciation for the greats of years past, and when first pitch arrived, they belted out their appreciation of a current great.

In the bottom of the first inning, the three-run home run from Gunnar Henderson sent Baltimore’s faithful into rapture. This is a lost season, and disappointment is valid. But Henderson’s blast still gave the crowd something for which to cheer — a moment of light in a dark year, a reason to yell and scream and enjoy a night at the ballpark.

The air was sucked out of the stadium shortly after.

Like so many nights this season, the on-field product hasn’t given much for fans to believe in. They packed in for Jones, Orsulak and Davis. Then they trudged out after right-handers Brandon Young, Yaramil Hiraldo and Corbin Martin yielded 11 runs in an eventual 11-3 defeat to the Athletics.

“Tonight was not a good night,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “And I hope we don’t have a lot of those nights. And I do have some faith with what we have, and I’m hoping those are going to be few and far between, but when you are going through them, they’re not fun.”

Part of this, of course, is the product of a trade-deadline sale that included four relievers departing the organization. The arms out in the bullpen are inexperienced at best. Injuries have played a role; Young is starting partially because right-hander Zach Eflin is on the injured list, but also because right-hander Charlie Morton was traded to the Detroit Tigers.

And Saturday, like many nights this year, underscored what is now painfully apparent: The lack of major investment into the pitching staff has resulted in ample lopsided losses.

“There’s going to be some tough nights,” Mansolino said of the inexperienced pitching staff with which Baltimore is left. “There’s going to be some really good moments, and we’ve seen that since the roster kind of turned over. And there’s going to be nights where they get beat up, and that’s just going to be part of the deal here for a little bit until they get more experience and more time and are able to slow the game down a little bit.”

The pitching staff can be fixed this winter ahead of the 2026 season, but it won’t be easy. It will take considerable effort either on the free agent market or in trade negotiations.

In the meantime, fans can yell for the induction of three new members in the Orioles Hall of Fame. They can yell for the swing from Henderson in the first inning.

Then they must think of a brighter future as they watch Young and others cough up a lead, and as they witness Athletics right-hander Jack Perkins — making his second career start — retire 15 batters in a row.

The tepid offensive performance included another hitless game for outfielder Dylan Carlson, who is on an 0-for-34 skid. And for the second straight night, Baltimore’s offense dried up after an early burst. It worked out Friday, when a three-hit effort resulted in a 3-2 win. It didn’t work twice.

“With where the roster is at and where the lineup is at, there’s a lot of pressure on those first five guys and they’re going to live up to it and they’re going to have better nights than they did tonight,” Mansolino said. “You got to tip your cap a little bit to the A’s pitching. Listen, they’re not names that are familiar by any means, but it’s good stuff.”

Young had shown flashes of stability over his previous three appearances, in which he allowed five earned runs in 15 innings. He only completed six innings once in the first nine starts of his major league career, coming in a 3-2 win against the Toronto Blue Jays at the end of July. But even in shorter spurts, Young had been giving Baltimore a chance to stay in the game.

The regression Saturday can be laid at the feet of several elevated pitches, such as a middle-middle cutter that Shea Langeliers clobbered for a two-run homer in the first inning. The Athletics catcher has been on fire — he entered with a 1.049 on-base-plus-slugging percentage since July — and he throttled the center-cut pitch at 109.3 mph.

That was an inauspicious start. But Young got out of the frame and stranded two runners in the second. Then, in the third, his outing unraveled.

Singles from Langeliers and Nick Kurtz brought Brent Rooker to the plate with no outs. Again, Young missed in a place he cannot miss: over the heart of the plate. This time, it was a splitter left up, and Rooker blasted it for a three-run shot. A sixth run scored on Young via former Orioles prospect Darell Hernaiz’s sacrifice fly ball, and Young’s night was done.

“Honestly, I’m gonna try to forget it as quick as possible, really,” Young said. “I feel like I’ve been dwelling on the past few, but now this one, it’s like, you know, I’ve just got to get out of my head. On to the next one, really.”

The six-run, three-inning performance was the shortest of Young’s nascent career. And the bullpen effort that followed only further deflated a fan base that showed up in force for the Hall of Fame inductions of Jones, Orsulak and Davis.

“That makes it a little more disappointing when it’s a Hall of Fame night, bigger crowd, chance to go two up in the series,” Young said. “Letting the team down, it sucks.”

Hiraldo and Martin conceded five runs in the fifth inning, although only two were earned because of Hiraldo’s two-out fielding error. The onslaught featured run-scoring doubles from Langeliers, Rooker and Gio Urshela.

With it, the cheer from earlier evaporated. The good old days brought Orioles fans in force; the reality of the present may have sent them home early.