MIKE TROUT hit his league-leading seventh home run of the year in the Angels’ 8-1 loss to the Giants on Friday (Flickr/Keith Allison).

By Pete Zarustica

The quick, steep slide of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim continued another notch on Friday as they not only lost to the staggering San Francisco Giants 8-1 at the Big A, they fell out of first place in the American League West.

It was their fourth straight loss, as the Halos showed the same weaknesses they demonstrated in being swept by the Boston Red Sox: not much offense and almost as little pitching performance.

“We haven’t done anything well [these last four games]. You can’t win a baseball game if you don’t do anything well,” said Justin Upton, who was 0-for-4 on Friday.

The Astros are now 14-7, a half-game ahead of the Orange County team at 13-7.

To be fair, the Angels trailed only by 1-0 until the top of the fifth when the visitors scored eight runs, keyed by Andrew McCutcheon’s grand slam home run.  The Giants scored another run in the eighth and the Halos did not get on the scoreboard until Mike Trout hit his seventh homer of the season in the eighth.

Angel starter Andrew Heaney (0-1) was tagged with the loss, going 4.1 innings while giving up six hits, seven earned runs and two walks. He struck out seven batters.

For the Giants, Jeffrey Samardzila (1-0) worked an efficient five innings, giving up two hits and no runs, walking four and striking out four. The Angels were outhit 9-5 and committed two errors.

Hoping to get back to winning, the Angels will again host the Giants (8-11) on Saturday with Garrett Richards (2-0) making the start.