TORONTO -- When it rains, it pours. And this time, the Blue Jays can’t close the roof.

Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Orioles continued an untimely, uninspiring stretch of play where the Blue Jays haven’t looked nearly as strong as the sum of their parts. Just like a similar slump earlier this season, a star-studded roster needs more than just one or two stars performing at a time.

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For a moment Tuesday, it looked like the Blue Jays would turn it all around. Following four days where Rogers Centre has felt like a library at times, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. shook it back to life in the very first inning.

Guerrero’s two-run home run was a Vladdy classic, a line drive that refused to come down. With a 15-degree launch angle, it was tied for the lowest launch angle on a home run this season and close to the lowest launch angle recorded on a home run since Statcast began measuring in 2015 (Giancarlo Stanton, 13 degrees). If anyone in a blue and white jersey can change the direction of this team, whether for a week or a decade, it’s Guerrero.

From that moment on, the Orioles pitched a shutout, silencing the Blue Jays for their final 27 outs. Without some production in between, the big moment in the first is forgotten.

“I think the key is that we’re not getting it done with runners in scoring position,” Guerrero said through a club interpreter. “That’s obviously the most important thing. It’s not happening right now. If we can’t do that right now, we’re not going to win games, so we need to get better at that.”

If the Blue Jays were a slap-hitting team working to scrape runs across, this would be a different conversation. That’s not the case, though. Show a casual baseball fan the Blue Jays’ lineup on any given night, and they'll know the names. They’ve all taken turns producing, like Guerrero’s recent hot streak or Matt Chapman’s tear through July and into August, but there hasn’t been enough overlap for much of the season.

“Urgency” has been the buzz word recently for Toronto, with interim manager John Schneider properly recognizing the limited room for patience at this point on the baseball calendar, especially in an American League Wild Card race this tight. Still, he doesn’t see that pressure getting to his hitters.

“This lineup is so talented that when it does click, it will be a good thing,” Schneider said. “Urgency is moreso in playing good baseball, pitching well, taking care of the ball and having good at-bats. But no, I don’t think it carries over to the lineup that much.”

Now 1-6 in their last seven with four of those losses coming against the Orioles, the Blue Jays find themselves in the third and final Wild Card spot. Just a half-game behind are the Orioles, with the Twins and the White Sox both one back. In simpler terms, it’s a mess, and every misstep carries weight.

The schedule offers a bit of a softer stretch following their upcoming series against the Yankees, as the Red Sox, Angels, Cubs and Pirates all have losing records, but that will be balanced by some challenging series through September. Nothing about this will be easy.

“We’re still in a playoff spot. We’re a playoff team,” said starter Alek Manoah, who allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings. “We know we’re a playoff team. We’re going through a tough stretch, and we’ll continue to get better.”

Pitching has been in the spotlight of late, given the struggles of José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi, but the Blue Jays’ identity when they’re at their best is the offense. That was the case in 2021, when Toronto won 91 games and just missed out on a playoff berth. These past couple of days are examples of what it looks like when this club gets trapped in a game suited for the other club’s style.

Fans have seen before, though, that the 2022 Blue Jays can turn on a dime. Guerrero’s home run in the first felt like that moment, but eventually, one will stick.

“This is a close group and a really talented group,” Schneider said. “We have no doubt that we’re going to be playing better baseball very soon. Between the guys who are young and the guys who are established veterans in the clubhouse, I have no doubt that they’re going to pick it up.”