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May 6, 2016 - 4:16 AM Riding a four-game losing streak into a nine-game trip is less than ideal, but that's the position the slumping Oakland Athletics find themselves in this weekend.

Handing the ball to the pitcher who's done the most consistent work for them early in the season is the best scenario for the A's as they begin a three-game series in Baltimore on Friday night against an Orioles club that's been struggling to score.

Oakland (14-13) moved above .500 with six consecutive victories April 16-22, but the train has since jumped the track with a 3-9 stretch that has featured a few tough losses over the last week. Three of the club's defeats on its skid have come by a run, and it even managed to lose while getting the better of Felix Hernandez.

The A's scored eight times in four-plus innings against the Mariners ace Wednesday, though only four were earned, before the bullpen coughed up a four-run lead in a 9-8 loss that capped a three-game sweep on their home field.

"You get into a four-run lead like that and we have our best guys available for the game, I feel like we're going to win that every time," manager Bob Melvin said. "Would have been a nice game to put away."

Oakland's starters have absorbed three of the losses on the slide behind a 6.29 ERA and .303 opposing batting average, so getting another quality outing from Rich Hill (3-3, 2.53 ERA) would be a big boost to a rotation that took another hit Thursday.

The club announced right-hander Chris Bassitt will need reconstructive surgery on his elbow after he was placed on the disabled list last week. Bassitt, who was 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA in five starts, allowed a career-high seven runs on 10 hits in 3 2-3 innings last Thursday in Detroit before going on the DL.

Fellow starters Jarrod Parker and Felix Doubront were also lost for the year to elbow issues, but the A's have been lucky with the rotation depth they have.

Hill is sitting atop that chart for the moment with the club's lowest ERA among its remaining starters, and the journeyman has a 1.42 mark in his previous three starts. The left-hander was outstanding Sunday with two hits and two runs allowed in six innings, but Houston's Doug Fister was just a bit better in a 2-1 loss to the Astros.

Now he'll try to hold down Baltimore, which has scored one or no runs in three of its last four games. The Orioles were shut out by the New York Yankees on Wednesday and needed 10 innings to break through for a 1-0 win in Thursday's series finale.

Ubaldo Jimenez (1-3, 5.20) takes the hill for the Orioles (16-11) looking to end a string of three straight losses since winning his first start of the season.

Jimenez had little room for error going up against Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale on Sunday and was done in by a five-run fifth in a 7-1 loss. The right-hander gave up seven hits and six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.

"Nothing changed," said Jimenez, who is 3-1 in six career starts against the A's despite a 5.28 ERA. "I think I had everything working. Just one of those innings that you just shake your head and go like, 'Wow, I can't believe this is happening.'"

The Orioles have won four in a row and eight their last 11 at home against Oakland.