PHOENIX — When the Orioles arrive at Camden Yards on Friday for their fifth series of the season, manager Brandon Hyde expects the same sort of interactions with his players as usual. There are always hitters and pitchers meetings at the onset of a new series and, in those meetings, Hyde and others will emphasize positivity.

He might emphasize it more ardently this time, though, considering the state of the club. Neither Hyde nor any player in the visiting clubhouse Wednesday allowed a hint of panic to creep into his words. All actively dispelled it, actually.

But, during those meetings Friday after the Orioles fell to 5-8 in their first 13 games, Hyde will “remind them that they’re really good players and keep encouraging and staying positive,” he said. “It’s important right now.”

The prevailing sentiment from the Orioles after their third straight series loss is that there is no need for concern. “It’s only been 13 games, and obviously this team is very talented,” infielder Jackson Holliday said, echoing a common theme.

There’s truth to it. There are 149 games remaining. But the sample here is larger than 13 games. It’s actually 102 games if extended to June 20 — spanning the end of the 2024 regular season, a two-game postseason sweep and 13 games of the 2025 campaign.

In those 102 games, Baltimore is 47-55.

From an outside perspective, this feels like an extension of the disappointing second half of last season. And, while the roster has changed, it changed only marginally — and the starting rotation, especially, is in a weaker place than last season through injuries and the loss of right-hander Corbin Burnes.

From an internal perspective, the Orioles don’t agree with the characterization that these 13 games feel like a continuation of last year’s second-half downturn.

“It’s a new year,” infielder Ryan Mountcastle said. “We all came in with a new mindset coming into the year and we all prepared for the season, and we got a lot of games left.”

Said Ramón Urías: “I don’t think there’s a carryover from last year. Everybody here, pretty much everybody had a great spring, and we started hot in Toronto. But, you know, there are ups and downs.”

And Hyde: “You’re going to go through challenges throughout the season. We’ve hit a challenge a little bit early in the season this year, which we haven’t in the past few years. Fortunately, it’s a long year and we’ve just got to keep going.”

The beginning of the season has lacked consistency. The only real consistency, in fact, is this: When the Orioles score five or more runs, they win; when they score four or fewer, they lose.

The boom-or-bust nature of the lineup is captured by its .974 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in wins and its .475 OPS in losses.

The Orioles powered six homers on opening day and have managed six in their next 12 games. Baltimore leads the league with 16 double plays after recording the fewest last year (71).

Still, there are advanced metrics that offer promise for the offense. Entering Wednesday, the Orioles’ average exit velocity of 90.1 mph was fifth best in the majors. That led to an expected slugging percentage of .445, per Statcast, compared to the .396 they had managed.

More than ever, catcher Adley Rutschman said, focusing on the process rather than results could get the Orioles through this.

“When it comes to 160-plus games, what we try to look at is: Are we controlling the strike zone and putting good swings on pitches in the zone?” Rutschman said. “That’s going to give you the best opportunity to put up the most runs possible. Just from a process standpoint, that’s what our goal is.”

Urías added: “It’s not like I’m worried about the offense. We’re good enough that we’ll figure it out.”

There are more questions about the starting rotation. Through 13 games, Baltimore’s starters have combined to produce a 5.37 ERA, ranking 26th in the majors. That includes Zach Eflin’s six runs in 18 frames.

Eflin has been Baltimore’s most reliable starter since he arrived in a trade last year. But, with a low-grade lat strain, he was placed on the 15-day injured list — another in a growing group that includes Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells. Without Eflin, there’s more pressure on the four healthy starters who broke camp. Cade Povich and Tomoyuki Sugano have shown promise, but Dean Kremer and Charlie Morton have allowed a combined 26 earned runs in 27 2/3 innings.

Morton, 41, acknowledged he needs to perform at a higher level. But he isn’t alone. With Baltimore’s uneven offense, there’s more pressure to keep the games close. Unlike 2023, when the Orioles seemed to climb out of any hole, the miraculous comebacks haven’t materialized for much of 2024 and beyond.

So, after a 9-0 loss to Arizona on Wednesday, the dominant topic postgame surrounded the idea that there’s no reason to panic. Holliday said he doesn’t “think there’s any level of concern.”

And Kremer noted that he’s “quite confident in our group here that, once everybody kind of gets going at the same time, it’s going to be a runaway train.”

The Orioles, at least, are banking on that train going in a positive direction rather than off the rails entirely.