JUSTIN UPTON drove in three runs in the Angels’ 10-7 loss to the Pirates Tuesday night (Angels photo).

The seven was the good news. The 10 was the bad stuff.

The Los Angeles Angels lost 10-7 to the Pittsburgh Pirates in Anaheim Tuesday night.  It was their 10th loss in 12 games and continued – after a brief pause – the steep decline of the Orange County team out of the post-season race.

Now 58-63, the Angels remain in fourth place in the American League West, but are an intimidating 13 games back in the chase for an AL wild card spot.

The Angels’ mound corps was hammered for 17 hits and the defense made two costly errors, more than enough to overshadow some good performances at the plate.

David Fletcher had four hits and scored three runs for the Halos and overall the team had 10 hits, four of them for extra bases. Justin Upton drove in three runs and Shohei Ohtani had two hits and two RBIs.

The Angels even jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, but in the third, the Bucs got to starter Griffin Canning for three runs. He left after four, having yielded those runs on six hits. He struck out two and walked three.

Another run in the bottom of the third put the home team up 5-3, but that was the last time the Angels saw a lead.  In the top of the fifth, the Pirates lit up Taylor Cole (2-4) for five hits and four runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Pittsburgh added another run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. A two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth – Upton driving in Fletcher and Ohtani with a single – made the final score respectable.

The Angels will try again today (Wednesday) with Dillon Peters (2-1) tapped for the start in a 5:07 p.m. game.