BALTIMORE -- The Red Sox certainly have had their chances in the first two games of this series at Camden Yards, but they just have not been taking advantage of them.
That caused them problems in the series-opening loss Friday, and it hurt them once again in Saturday's 4-2 loss.
The Red Sox (10-8) went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight on Saturday. That comes on the heels of going 0-for-9 and leaving six Friday night -- a big reason the Red Sox have scored just two runs in the first two games of the series.
Boston starter Steven Wright (1-2) gave up back-to-back homers to Trey Mancini and Jonathan Schoop in a four-run fourth, and the Red Sox couldn't answer despite the fact that they put runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings against Jayson Aquino (1-0), who was making his first Major League start.
"On a night, once again, where we're scuffling to put points on the board, that four-run inning looms large," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "There's been a number of times we've expanded the zone ... and that's kind of what it boils down to."
The Red Sox came into this series with a .282 batting average, tops in the American League. It now has dropped 10 points in two games, and the long-awaited power still has not shown up as a team, despite Jackie Bradley Jr.'s two-run homer off Aquino.
But Farrell said another part of the problem here in Baltimore has been a lack of patience at times from a Red Sox offense that usually has plenty of it. They've swung more often at pitches away from the plate, which helped out Aquino at times as he battled through six innings.
"Where we've been so good at trusting the next guy behind us in the lineup rather than being the guy in the moment, and staying patient with building an inning, staying controlled, staying relentless with the disciplined strike zone, we've expanded outside," Farrell said.
Bradley was the lone Boston hitter to come through on this night. He crushed the two-run homer to right that gave the Red Sox an early 2-0 lead.

That was Bradley's first homer this season. A day after coming off the disabled list Friday -- after missing 12 games due to a right knee sprain -- Bradley went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Bradley said he feels that everything with this potent lineup will come together in time.
"It is early, and I feel like we've swung the bats, overall, pretty well," he said. "I think once we get going, get the timely hits, we'll be [better], and hopefully that will [lead] to a lot of runs."