The conundrum that the Orioles find themselves in on the mound is severe, and it reared its head Sunday in an “embarrassing” loss, as manager Brandon Hyde described it. The 24-2 series-ending defeat to the Cincinnati Reds featured a continuation of poor form for Charlie Morton but, beyond that, it served as a wider indictment of the rotation.

Yes, Baltimore has played only 21 games. And yet this 21-game sample shows the Orioles’ rotation is the worst in baseball — and potentially the worst in history — so far.

There’s time for that to change. The return of injured pitchers and the possible addition of starters via trades could boost Baltimore’s rotation. But right now it’s a problem, and Hyde knows it.

“Look at our starts this series,” Hyde said of the Cincinnati series. They received 3 1/3 innings from Cade Povich, four innings from Brandon Young and 2 1/3 innings from Morton. “You’re just not going to be able to win games that way. You’re gonna win them once in a while because you’re gonna outscore teams, but that’s not how you win major league baseball games.”

It’s a team game, of course, so there’s valid criticism for an offense that has been sporadic and a defense that at times doesn’t help its pitchers. But Hyde admitted, at this point, the Orioles’ lackluster rotation has much to do with the team’s 9-12 record.

“Just look at the numbers,” Hyde said.

OK. Let’s do it.

Here are five numbers that tell the story of a historically poor start for Baltimore’s starting pitchers.

6.11

This is Baltimore’s ERA for its starting pitchers. It’s the worst in baseball.

The relievers have performed better. Even with a collapse Sunday, their reliever ERA is a more manageable 4.59. And, by excluding the nine runs allowed by the position players who pitched the eighth and ninth innings, Baltimore’s relievers would hold a 3.70 ERA.

That may rise if the Orioles don’t receive longer outings from their starters.

1.60

This is the WHIP for Orioles starters. It stands for the number, on average, of walks and hits allowed per inning. The 1.60 WHIP means there are almost two baserunners per inning against Orioles starters, which increases stressful innings, raises pitch counts, shortens starts and leads to runs.

47.6

This is the percentage of games in which Orioles starters have completed fewer than five innings. It’s happened in 10 of Baltimore’s 21 games, including all three against the Reds.

The percentage grows larger when it comes to how many starts lasted six innings or more. Zach Eflin, who’s on the injured list with a mild lat strain, completed six in all three of his starts. Povich has done so once. Tomoyuki Sugano finished seven innings last week. That’s it — 76.2% of Baltimore’s starts have lasted fewer than six full innings.

161

This is where the Orioles approach history should their starter performances waver at this level all season. In the modern era of baseball (since 1900), no team has an ERA- as high as Baltimore’s 161. Granted, that will change; they’ve played only about 13% of the season. But it shows how poor the start has been.

ERA-, available on FanGraphs, is an advanced metric that measures how a pitcher’s (or team’s) ERA stacks up against the rest of the league. The lower the number, the better, with 100 being average. At 161, the Orioles’ rotation is 61% worse than the average rotation this season.

ERA- adjusts for stadium factors (hitter’s parks vs. pitcher’s parks, for example).

When comparing that number historically, the next closest ERA- is 151, courtesy of the 109-loss Philadelphia Athletics in 1915.

141

Similar to ERA-, the team’s FIP- on FanGraphs is 141. FIP, which stands for fielding-independent pitching, is a stat that isolates a pitcher’s performance from the performance of his defense. It focuses on walks, hit batters, strikeouts and home runs. By doing so, the statistic ensures defense, whether outstanding or poor, doesn’t reflect the pitcher. And it shows the Orioles’ shaky defense isn’t solely to blame for a high ERA.

At 141, that mark is also the worst since 1900. FIP- also adjusts for park factors and indicates that the Orioles’ rotation has a 41% worse FIP than league average this season.