Angels manager Joe Maddon isn’t one to blame his players. In fact, he’s known for defending them.

So, before Thursday’s 10-5 loss to the Giants at Oracle Park, he explained his team’s recent shortcomings in a simple and concise manner.

“I’m not trying to pin it on anything, but as we pitch, we win,” he said. “We definitely have the ability to get on a hot streak, but you just can’t do that unless you pitch well enough to do that and that’s what I’m looking forward to right now.”

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Maddon’s search will continue another day. Thursday’s loss gave them an 8-18 record, setting a franchise record for the fewest victories through 26 games.

And as has been the case for the Angels in 2020, the pitching came up short. Angels starter Jose Suarez was charged with five runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings before he was taken out of the game at the 48-pitch mark. Reliever Matt Andriese gave up another run in the second inning to give the Giants a 6-1 lead after two innings. Julio Teheran gave up four runs in five innings of relief to put the Angels in a hole they could not climb out of Thursday.

When the Angels pitch well, they win. The pitching staff has a 2.96 ERA in wins this season. By contrast, they came into Thursday’s game with a 6.09 ERA in the losses.

The pitching staff has allowed six or more runs in each of the last eight games, the longest such streak in club history. The lone victory during that stretch was a 7-6 win against the Giants on Monday.

“I don't want to bang on my pitching staff. I love these guys. But we have to pitch better,” Maddon said postgame. “You don't quit, you don't cry. You don't complain and you don't point fingers. You just keep working. This is us together not going so well, and it'll be us together when it does go well.”

Making matters worse, Angels catcher Max Stassi was hit on the right knee by a foul tip off the bat of Alex Dickerson in the second inning. He stayed in the game long enough to complete Dickerson’s at-bat, but was then removed from the contest and diagnosed with a contusion. The X-rays on his knee were negative.

“I was a catcher so you do get that thing on the kneecap and it burns and it stings, but it goes away,” Maddon said. “This wasn't going away.”

The Angels scored first in the first inning on an RBI single by Anthony Rendon. Veteran second baseman Wilmer Flores answered with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the frame to push the Giants ahead, 2-1, and start the San Francisco scoring spree.

The Angels tacked on two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth on a solo home run by Anthony Benboom, who had replaced Stassi. Rendon, who is heating up at the plate, finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

There was a bit of drama in the seventh inning as Maddon expressed concern when Giants reliever Shaun Anderson squared off against Mike Trout for the second time this week. On Tuesday, Anderson upset the Angels with pitches near Trout’s head. On Thursday, Trout proceeded to hit a triple off the top of the wall in left field a few moments after his manager came to his defense.

“Enough is enough. This is the Major Leagues and there’s a level of accountability here also,” Maddon said. “I don't want to use the word ‘irresponsible’ loosely, but in that situation, I pretty much knew it was going to happen again. I'm not accusing the guy of doing anything on purpose. I'm just saying he doesn't command his fastball enough in order to know where it's going.”

The manager said the pitch was “just too close.”

“It can't happen,” he said. “It can't happen. It just can't happen.”

Giants manager Gabe Kapler took a different approach when asked about that at-bat.

"On a night where Joey Bart got his first Major League hit, when he led us to a Major League win and when Brandon Crawford hit his 100th Major League home run ... anything I say related to that is going to distract, and I’m just not going to do that," Kapler said.