ANAHEIM, Calif. — Rapid reactions from the Red Sox’ 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium:

1) In the first inning, it looked like it might be a short afternoon for Yusei Kikuchi. In reality, it turned out to be a long day for Red Sox hitters. The Sox scored two unearned runs in the first and forced Kikuchi to throw 31 pitches and it looked like he wouldn’t last long. Instead, Kikuchi figured some things out after the first and ended up needing just 74 pitches for the next innings. The Red Sox helped him out with a lot of quick at-bats. Over the next six innings, they managed exactly one baserunner — a single by Carlos Narvaez with two down in the fifth. Kikuchi retired 19 of the last 20 hitters he faced and ended up with 12 strikeouts. They had only two baserunners after the first.

2) Making consistent contact has been periodically an issue for the Red Sox much of the season and was again on Wednesday. Through the first five innings, 11 of the Sox’ 15 were outs came by strikeout. Los Angeles starter Yusei Kikuchi had multiple strikeouts in four of the first five innings, including striking out the side in both the second and fifth innings. What’s more, the Red Sox weren’t exactly battling their way to long at-bats; 11 of those 15 came on four pitches or fewer, allowing Kikuchi to keep his pitch count at a moderate level.

3) Trevor Story may not be producing at the rate he did in Colorado, but over the last month, he’s getting closer. Story had a two-RBI single in the first, marking the fourth time in the month of June that he had knocked in multiple runs and the second time he’s done it on the current road trip. He has 18 RBI over 21 games this month With the bases loaded in the first, Story smacked a single between short and third and gave the Sox a quick 2-0 lead.

4) Romy Gonzalez didn’t have a lot of first base experience at the beginning of the season, but pressed into duty there with the injury to Triston Casas, Gonzalez has grown into the position. In the first inning, he may well have saved the Red Sox two runs when, with runners on first and second and one out, he speared a hard-hit shot off the bat of Taylor Ward, gloving the ball backhanded as he sprawled toward the first base line, then fed the ball to Fitts for the out at first.

5) Walking two of the first three hitters you face to start a clean inning is not a recipe for success, as Luis Guerrero discovered Wednesday. In the fifth, he issued two free passes sandwiched around a forceout. Then, a sharp single to center by Jo Adell and a broken-bat single to left from Travis d’Arnaud produced runs as the Angels took their first lead of the day.

6) In general, the bullpen has failed the Sox during the five-game losing streak. It’s hard to believe that, through Friday, the same group had a consecutive scoreless innings streak that reached 19.2. Since then, it’s been a completely different story. Boston relievers yielded five runs Sunday, four on Monday, three Tuesday and three more on Wednesday.

7) Richard Fitts, making his first big league start in more than three weeks, didn’t pitch badly. He allowed two runs over four innings, with both runs coming on back-to-back solo homers from Jo Adell and Travis d’Arnaud in the fourth inning. That was it for Fitts, who was far from efficient, needing 83 pitches to get 12 outs. The outing also extends his distinction of starting 10 big league games in his career, dating back to last year, without ever having pitched in a victory. The Sox are 0-10 in those games.

8) Having completed their nine-game road trip, the Red Sox return home to Boston and have Thursday off. On Friday, they’ll start a series with the Toronto Blue Jays. It will be RHP Brayan Bello (3-2, 3.31) vs. TBA for the Blue Jays.