The Red Sox made just two trades before Thursday’s 6 p.m. deadline, acquiring reliever Steven Matz from the Cardinals and starting pitcher Dustin May from the Dodgers.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow came up short in his pursuit of a hitter. He could have used an upgrade at first base, a position where Boston ranks 20th in OPS (.702) out of the 30 major league teams.

Boston was one of the teams “in the mix” for All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suárez with “the intention of acquiring him to play first base,” according to The Athletic. The Mariners ended up acquiring Suárez right before midnight Wednesday.

“We spent pretty significant time trying to add a bat,” Breslow said Thursday, about an hour after the trade deadline expired. “Someone that could impact the roster and represent meaningful upgrade over the guys that we have either on our team or potentially in Triple A that we feel like would immediately improve the roster. We weren’t able to line up. But none of the deals that didn’t end up being executed in my opinion came from a lack of being aggressive or an unwillingness to get uncomfortable. But it does take two teams to line up in order for trades to go across the line.”

Breslow said Marcelo Mayer’s injury “to some extent” changed the aggressiveness of how the Red Sox pursued infield help.

“In that we were engaged in more conversations with more teams,” Breslow said.

Mayer is seeking a second opinion on his sprained right wrist to determine “the right course” to take.

“Ultimately I think we were willing to be very aggressive and we didn’t line up with other teams when it came to adding a bat,” Breslow said.

Looking at international options, rookie Kristian Campbell has started to heat up at Triple-A Worcester. He’s in the midst of a 10-game hitting streak. He has 12 hits in his past 24 at-bats.

Campbell could factor into the mix at first base if Abraham Toro continues to struggle. Toro has just one multi-hit game over his past 16 games, going 8-for-48 (.167) during the stretch.

The 23-year-old right-handed hitting Campbell has started 16 games at first base in Worcester since being demoted there.

“I’ve been working at first base mainly, and I’m just working on footwork around the base and working on my defense there,” Campbell said Tuesday. “It’s been going good. I feel pretty comfortable over there. I feel like I’ve been doing pretty good over there.”

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