BALTIMORE -- Three weeks ago, David Hess enjoyed the evening of his life in Toronto. For 6 1/3 innings that night, he held the Blue Jays hitless until his pitch count conspired against history. The second-year righty became a household name. He struck out a career-high eight. Hess' facial reactions inspired memes.

In terms of stuff, mound presence and results, that outing resembled the early part of Hess’ latest start, in which he blanked the White Sox for four innings on Monday night at Oriole Park. Which is what made what happened next all the more vexing. After needing just 44 pitches to breeze through four, Hess was derailed by a 32-pitch fifth, allowing four runs in the frame in what became a 12-2 loss for Baltimore.

“Stuff-wise, I think it was all there,” said Hess. “For me, I look at is as a responsibility, when I start games, to keep us in it. That’s on me, that’s something I need to improve on.”

In this development-themed campaign, the Orioles can point to Hess’ increased fastball velocity, his decreased walk rate and his receptiveness to their new data-driven operation as signs that his best may be yet to come. His ability is apparent in the fact that when he’s been good, he’s been unhittable. The challenge now is for Hess to turn those flashes into the norm, and to limit the damage that’s so often come before and after.

“Part of being a young team, something that we’re learning is rebounding from mistakes,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “There are going to be mistakes made; now it’s about how do you go onto the next pitch? How do you get the next guy out? How do you not let it snowball? That’s the consistency part of the game that is really difficult.”

Hess went 0-3 with a 9.24 ERA in the three starts separating his no-hit bid and Monday, allowing seven home runs across 12 2/3 innings over that span. On the heels of a five-pitch fourth inning Monday, he threw 23 more pitches before recording his first out in the fifth. The big blow was a 421-foot, three-run homer by James McCann.

“After that,” Hess said, “the momentum shifted a little bit.”

The O's offense managed little besides Pedro Severino’s solo homer in the ninth and Trey Mancini’s RBI double off Ryan Burr in the fifth, an inning after wasting a bases-loaded opportunity against starter Manny Banuelos. Meanwhile, the White Sox feasted for eight runs off Tanner Scott and Miguel Castro, the latter’s ERA swelling to 10.80 after an especially ugly outing. The right-hander retired two of the nine batters he faced, threw three wild pitches and prompted Hyde to summon his second position player to the mound in a span of three nights.

Jesus Sucre, normally the club’s starting catcher, fared much better, tossing a 1-2-3 top of the ninth in his sixth career pitching appearance. Sucre became the third position player to pitch this season for the Orioles. Only nine had done so in franchise history prior to 2019.

As for Hess, he fell to 1-4 with a 5.88 ERA this season, after going 3-10 with a 4.88 mark as a rookie in 2018. But hidden within the O's sixth straight home loss were positives for him to point to.

“The results aren’t there right now, but there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes,” Hess said. “The right things are happening. The right things are in place, where those things will turn around. Baseball is a humbling game and it can also be very uplifting. We’re in a little bit of that humbling time right now, and we’re looking ahead and forward to when that shifts.”