The outcome of Tuesday’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals did not come down to the play near the wall in center field, but it sure didn’t set the Orioles up for a late comeback bid. The play that wasn’t made by Jorge Mateo wound up as a run-scoring triple, and it coupled with another outfield adventure one batter prior to make for a head-shaking display of fielding.

Mateo, an infielder playing in the outfield for the third time in four games, acted with inexperience. Nearing the wall, Mateo leaped early for Jordan Walker’s liner and missed it. He had more room to run. He also mistimed the jump. The ball clanged off the wall for an RBI triple. Jose Barrero, pinch running on third for Nolan Gorman, trotted home.

Even if Mateo caught that ball, Barrero would’ve scored via a sacrifice fly. He was on third because of another misadventure during Gorman’s plate appearance, with a sky-high fly ball that eluded both Mateo and the lunging Heston Kjerstad in right-center field.

Add in Nolan Arenado’s solo home run earlier in the frame, and the sequence represented a familiar collapse that turned a winnable game into a 7-4 loss.

Again, had the Orioles produced more with runners in scoring position earlier, or had right-hander Bryan Baker not conceded the solo shot to Arenado, those two defensive misplays would be footnotes rather than telling issues. But as the Cardinals broke Baltimore’s three-game winning streak — even amid their own defensive blunders — the Orioles’ inability to keep the score closer can be pinpointed to the gaffes from Mateo and Kjerstad.

According to Statcast, the ball that landed out of Kjerstad’s reach had a 95% catch probability. The Mateo miss had a 75% catch probability.

“We’ve got a guy that’s a rookie in the major leagues and an infielder playing the outfield probably because of an injury situation right now,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “It’s a wet night. It’s tough. ... I think the conditions were really tough tonight. Our guys did the best they could for what we’re asking.”

Mateo, through team interpreter Brandon Quinones, said “with the rain and everything, it did make it a little uncomfortable” tracking fly balls.

Mateo said it wasn’t a case of not knowing how much room he had before the wall.

“I tried to catch the ball. I was aware of where the wall was,” he said. “It just didn’t work out that way and ultimately it landed where it did.”

With Cedric Mullins in center field, both are likely outs. But Mullins has missed three of the last four games. The reasoning from Mansolino is vague. He said Mullins was banged up after a doubleheader and day games. In an effort to keep him fresh, the Orioles decided to give Mullins a few days off.

Without Mullins in center, however, the outfield defense is much shakier.

Granted, other issues compounded to result in Baltimore’s loss. The three-run eighth inning was just most glaring, given the late stage.

The Orioles were in a strong position entering the seventh inning. They held a 4-3 edge because of an RBI fielder’s choice in the fourth (a consolation, considering they couldn’t capitalize with the bases loaded and no outs that frame) and a three-run homer from Ryan O’Hearn in the fifth. That was the lone hit with a runner in scoring position — Baltimore finished 1-for-14 in that category.

O’Hearn saw one pitch, a center-cut fastball from St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Andre Pallante, and he sent it on a line into the outfield seats. The blast prodded the Orioles ahead and continued what has been a torrid pace for O’Hearn.

This season, in the final year of his contract, O’Hearn has produced like an All-Star: a .340 batting average and .986 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. As the rest of the offense struggles to find its form, O’Hearn has kept the team afloat in many ways.

The homer also gave right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano a clean slate. After an RBI groundout scored one run for Baltimore in the fourth, Sugano worked with a lead into the sixth.

He made up for the beginning of his outing. The Cardinals jumped all over Sugano in the first inning, but with only singles, the four knocks led to just one run, when Willson Contreras shot a liner to center field. With one out and the bases loaded, Sugano forced Arenado into a pop out before stranding the trio of runners through a Gorman groundout.

“That was a big moment for me today,” Sugano said of surrendering only one run despite the four hits and 32 first-inning pitches.

Harder contact arrived in the form of Lars Nootbaar’s two-run home run in the second inning. To that point, three of the first five hits came against sweepers Sugano left up in the zone. Nootbaar’s blast came on a thigh-high cutter in the middle of the plate.

Those missed locations were costly, yet even then, the Orioles trailed by only three. And Sugano settled in from there. He retired 11 of the next 12 batters he faced, including 1-2-3 fourth and fifth innings.

And with a runner on third and one out in the sixth, left-hander Gregory Soto’s two strikeouts held the narrow lead and saved Sugano from an additional run on his line.

“I think the biggest reason for being able to get out of that first inning and go through the second inning on was communication with Trompy [catcher Chadwick Tromp],” Sugano said, speaking through team interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “Him catching me was the first time for me, but I think communicating with him well was key.”

But left-hander Keegan Akin allowed the game-tying run after issuing a leadoff walk in the seventh, followed by two singles. The Cardinals broke the tie one inning later against Baker, with Arenado’s long ball and the two defensive letdowns.

Mansolino said the recent stretch of games has the bullpen on “fumes.” He realizes the Orioles have “really relied on him [Baker] heavily here recently, and he has been so good. When we put him out there, we know we’re asking a lot, but we’re asking a lot of that whole group right now.”

They weren’t able to answer. Four runs against relievers tipped the scales the Cardinals’ way. The defense didn’t help, either.

The outfield debacles won’t show up as errors. However, they are plays that should’ve been made, in all likelihood. And if the score had been closer entering the bottom of the eighth, perhaps this would’ve been a different story — one not focused on the all-too familiar sting of defeat.