BALTIMORE -- The Red Sox could have put themselves in the drivers’ seat for a postseason spot simply by winning a series against the Orioles, who have the worst record in the American League.

That mission was not accomplished, as the Sox suffered a difficult-to-stomach 6-2 defeat in Thursday night’s rubber match of a three-game series that has put them in a mad scramble with their AL Wild Card competitors heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

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The Red Sox (89-70) trail the Yankees (91-68) by two games for the top AL Wild Card spot, and they are tied with the red-hot Mariners (89-70) for the second spot. The Blue Jays (88-71) are a game behind Boston and Seattle, and the stage is set for a drama-filled conclusion to the 162-game slate.

Now it’s on to Washington for a Boston squad that has lost five of its past six games.

“Obviously we have to win,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We’ve been talking about winning series and we haven’t won the last two. This one wasn’t good at all. Obviously the Yankees one wasn’t great. But I think we still control our own destiny. Just show up [Friday], play a good game, go over there to D.C. and we have to win. There’s no more, I don’t want to say, excuses; we don’t make excuses. But we have to win out. We have to win this series and see where it takes us.”

The 65-94 Nationals are another opponent the Red Sox should handle if they play up to their potential. But that didn’t happen in Baltimore, as the bats went uncharacteristically quiet against the team with the worst ERA in the Majors.

“I think we’re ready to go to Washington, to be honest,” said Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts. “They outplayed us here. It’s a bad time for us to be doing that, playing worse than the Orioles. Obviously we need it more than them at this point. Let’s get it out of here, man, get some good sleep and come back at it tomorrow.”

Bogaerts will likely be the first one to the batting cage on Friday. The veteran leader has just two hits in 23 at-bats during this 1-5 stretch by the Red Sox, and he hit into two double plays to short-circuit the offense on Thursday.

For a player as prideful as Bogaerts, this is tough to swallow.

“It sucks, bro. It sucks. I have three more games to get going and try to help this team turn it around,” said Bogaerts. “I take responsibility for it, because you’re going down the stretch like this, it’s not a good sign when you’re playing bad baseball. Sometimes it happens, man. It happens to the best of ‘em, but you can’t keep a good guy down for too long.”

It seemed like Thursday would be a good night for the Sox when Kiké Hernández roped the first pitch of the game for a home run.

Instead of that being a moment that propelled the Red Sox, their offense went silent against a lefty starter in Alexander Wells, who came into the game with a 7.61 ERA.

After coming to life late in Wednesday’s 6-0 win, this type of futility in the series finale at Camden Yards was a surprising step back for Boston.

“A little surprised,” Cora said. “The way we started today, we started off fast, and we were putting good at-bats. And then all of a sudden, just kind of like two days ago, we put together some empty at-bats.”

Cora suggested his team lost control of its approach offensively.

“We weren't able to slow down the game. And that's the beauty of this game, right? There's not a clock,” Cora said. “You can slow it down as long as you want to, work counts, grind at-bats and put pressure on the opposition. And for a while there, we didn't do that. All of a sudden, you look up and you’re in the sixth inning.”

The Red Sox can right themselves by having a big final weekend in the nation’s capital.

“We are a really resilient club,” said starter Nick Pivetta, who took the loss. “You just have to forget what happened in the past and move forward to the next game. That’s what’s most important, to really show our resilience and go out there and compete. And that starts with Game 1 against Washington.”

The motivation is quite obvious now for the Red Sox. They know that if they don’t snap out of this slide immediately, Nationals Park will be the last venue they play at this season. Their leader will try to set the tone for a turnaround.

“Tomorrow I’m going to get to the field and go to the cage again early and continue to work,” said Bogaerts. “I’m not prepared to go home yet. Better start turning it around.”