BALTIMORE — One former ace hasn’t thrown a big-league pitch this season and another is posting numbers that would get a less accomplished pitcher released.

While the Yankees continue to hope Luis Severino will return at some point they have to be concerned about the recent skid Masahiro Tanaka has hit.

Working against the pathetic Orioles on Monday night at Camden Yards, Tanaka was staked to a five-run lead in the top of the sixth, traded a run for the only out he recorded and was replaced by Tommy Kahnle who gave up a two-run homer to Jonathan Villar that tied the score.

Fortunately for the Yankees, Tanaka’s subpar outing didn’t stop their winning streak, which reached six games via a 9-6 victory in front of a small, but pro-Yankee crowd of 20,151.

Coupled with the second-place Rays losing to the Blue Jays the Yankees’ win pushed their AL East lead to nine lengths and was highlighted by clutch performances from lesser lights in the lineup.

Mike Tauchman hit two opposite-field homers and Austin Romine, Brett Gardner and Mike Ford also homered to raise the Yankees’ long-ball total at Camden Yards to 32 this season — a major league record for a visiting team in an opponent’s park.

As for Tanaka, who started the season with a 64-34 big-league record and a 3.59 ERA, the last eight starts have been a nightmare that needs to end if the Yankees are going to play deep into October.

Aaron Boone said Tanaka’s calling-card splitter, which has misbehaved a lot this season, flattened out in the sixth when the light-hitting Jace Peterson hit a two-run homer and Tanaka gave up three other hits.

Tanaka appears to be puzzled by what has happened in his last eight starts in which he is 2-1 with a bloated 9.08 ERA and has given up 56 hits and 14 walks in 37 ²/₃ innings. Ten of the hits are home runs.

“It’s been really frustrating. In recent games giving up runs like that,’’ Tanaka said of the sixth. “One inning, big runs. I really need to turn that around. I’ll take the positives [control of the splitter] of this game, but I will make the necessary adjustments to come back strong the next time.’’

After Kahnle gave up the two-run homer to Villar, who hit for the cycle, in the sixth, Adam Ottavino worked a perfect seventh, Ford and Tauchman homered to give the Yankees a 9-6 led in the eighth and Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman didn’t allow a run in the final two frames.

Chapman posted his 30th save in 35 chances and sealed the victory by blowing away Renato Nunez on three pitches for the final out. The first two were clocked at 100 mph and the final one at 102.

Maybe on another night against a team not named the Orioles, Tanaka wouldn’t have been bailed out by a lineup which is missing big names for long stretches of time but continues to hum thanks to guys like Tauchman.

Still, that was no consolation to Tanaka.

“It is obviously great they came back for us,’’ Tanaka said of the three-run eighth that sealed the win. “Having good offense and you are not doing your job well enough, it kind of makes it more frustrating.’’

If it was an occasional bad start it would be easier to believe Tanaka’s trap-door splitter would arrive for an extended stay. Yet, eight starts represents almost a third of his outings and those numbers over that long of a stretch don’t instill confidence that it is about to turn around.