PHOENIX — The delay dragged on and on. The umpiring crew huddled near the pitcher’s mound held their hands up to Orioles manager Brandon Hyde at various points, then deigned to speak to him. They deliberated for some 10 minutes, so long that the songs at Chase Field changed multiple times, and then came to a conclusion.

After all that, the ruling was that the seventh inning ending on the bizarre sequence that left the umpires and everyone else confused. And it was hard luck for Tyler O’Neill, who was doubled off because of an umpiring gaffe.

The Orioles went on to lose, 4-3, to the Arizona Diamondbacks, but the umpires on Tuesday night were an unfortunately large part of this story.

“Pretty crazy play,” O’Neill said.

The bases were loaded with one out in the seventh. Jackson Holliday came to the plate, then hit a shallow line drive to left field. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made a sliding catch but — and this is the critical part — neither third base umpire Mike Estabrook nor second base umpire Derek Thomas made any sort of call. O’Neill, eyes toward third, advanced.

“I thought Gurriel trapped it, so I was trying to stay closer to third base and trying to score on the play,” O’Neill said. “Took a peek at the umpires; I didn’t see any signal there was a catch or anything, so I just kind of went about my business. Obviously, seeing it on the replay, he made a heck of a catch. Just one of those baseball plays that didn’t go our way.”

Meanwhile, Gurriel airmailed a throw to the back stop and Cedric Mullins, who had tagged up at third, ran home. Mullins’ run counted. The Diamondbacks retrieved Gurriel’s wild throw and tagged O’Neill, who stood at third. It took a bit to convince Estabrook, it seemed, that O’Neill truly hadn’t tagged up at second.

And from there, a lengthy review ensued. Confusion reigned. Even after the conclusion — which confirmed Gurriel’s catch and O’Neill’s baserunning out — there were plenty of questions. How did Estabrook not make any signal, be it an out or safe call, on Holliday’s liner to Gurriel? What took so long in the review? And how did Hyde keep his cool?

“It’s a tough play for everybody at that point,” said Hyde, who opted to request a review of every aspect of the play. “Like to see a call on the field. Nobody saw it. Thought Ced ran the bases extremely well and did the right thing.”

According to a pool reporter, crew chief Laz Diaz said there were “actually four challenges. The catch. The two tag-ups. And which way they tagged the appeal.”

Diaz added that Estabrook didn’t make a call because of the two possible plays that were happening at third: Mullins’ tag-up, and a possible force out of O’Neill.

“So he [Estabrook] immediately went back and didn’t make a call. And then he saw the overthrow,” Diaz said. “That’s the first thing they asked him was, did he catch the ball. He said, ‘Yeah, he definitely caught the ball,’ but he was just worrying about the next play. It just happened so quickly. We had to go to the next play no matter what. Then, in his haste into the next play, he didn’t make a call.”

But by his not making a call, the Orioles missed out on what might’ve been a chance to tie the game. Gunnar Henderson was due up next and would have had O’Neill in scoring position at second had he known not to advance.

By that point, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo had already been tossed, along with starting pitcher Merrill Kelly. The right-hander was leaving the mound when he looked back at Diaz and said something to warrant an ejection. Lovullo then came in and blew a gasket.

They were outraged, it seemed, over Diaz’s decision that O’Neill hadn’t gone around on a check swing earlier in the seventh. It would’ve been strike three. Instead, O’Neill walked one pitch later, and soon the bases were loaded against right-hander Shelby Miller. Chaos broke out again — the umpires at the center of it — and Mullins scored, slimming Baltimore’s deficit to one.

The Orioles were trailing at that point because the Diamondbacks plated four runs against right-hander Charlie Morton, who struggled with command throughout the night. Morton walked five batters in five innings.

“I think it really just comes down to fastball command, if I could’ve just limited some of those walks,” Morton said. “Even still, I was able to pitch into the sixth inning and it’s not like I had 100 pitches. It was just really bad timing with walks, and they had a couple of really clutch hits with men on.”

It was the continuation of a poor beginning to his time as an Oriole. Morton, who signed this offseason for $15 million, has allowed four or more runs in all three starts. He limited damage in the first inning with bases loaded and no outs when he allowed one run, but Corbin Carroll bashed a solo home run in the third and Josh Naylor scored two with a double in the fifth.

Morton said Naylor had already seen multiple breaking balls, and with runners on, Morton was cognizant of not bouncing one in to advance them. He was so wary of that he hung a curveball in the middle of the zone.

“I just grooved it to him,” Morton said. “You have to make a better pitch there, and I didn’t make a good pitch. I pitched myself into some difficult spots, but man, you look back and you’re like, ‘Man, you’re a couple pitches away from getting out of that.’ And regardless of how poor my command was, I still pitched my way into a spot I could’ve gotten out of it, and that’s the most frustrating part.”

The Orioles had gotten on the board in the first through Mullins’ two-run single. But between Mullins’ single and his seventh-inning double, Kelly retired 16 of the 17 batters he faced.

Baltimore had an opportunity in the eighth to draw level. Adley Rutschman singled and pinch runner Jorge Mateo swiped second base and then third. But Mateo was caught between third and home when Ryan Mountcastle dribbled a grounder back to the pitcher, and Mateo was tagged out. Jordan Westburg struck out to end the frame.

That was all standard baseball fare. What wasn’t: The baffling umpiring display in the seventh that ground the game to a halt and left both teams confused.

“I don’t really think anyone saw it clearly,” O’Neill said. “Unfortunately, didn’t go our way.”