TORONTO -- Tucked into a long assessment from Ron Washington on his club’s offense was one simple message: Score and keep scoring.

The Angels did one of those things on Friday night.

A healthy lead turned into a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, as the visitors struggled to tack on runs after scoring four times in the second inning. It was the latest iteration of the exciting highs and head-scratching lows of a young lineup. The path to more consistent success is as clear as what their manager laid out, though it’s easier said than done.

“Slow the heartbeat down, understand what the situation is, try to do what the situation asks [for] and not try to be a hero,” Washington said before the series opener on Thursday. “Because in this business, you try to be a hero, you become a zero.”

No one was trying to be the hero in that four-run second frame. The Angels built their lead one at-bat at a time, sending eight batters to the plate as rookies and veterans worked up the count and made good decisions against Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt.

It started with Kevin Pillar, who was hit by a pitch before scoring on an Anthony Rendon RBI double. The line kept moving from there.

A one-out walk by Niko Kavadas and a double steal during the following at-bat turned into two more runs as Jo Adell stayed hot with a scorching double to right-center. That brought up Taylor Ward, who swung on a first-pitch changeup in the zone for an RBI single to cap the scoring.

That right there is what Washington was talking about, the type of holistic approach that will give a team success against an established Major League pitcher -- one with an eight-pitch repertoire at that. But the Angels allowed Bassitt to settle in, and the Blue Jays clawed back on the other side.

“I don’t think he changed anything [after the second],” Logan O’Hoppe said of Bassitt. “I feel like we just got a little too big.”

And with that, the zeros lined up on the scoreboard.

From the fourth to the eighth, the Angels couldn’t muster any baserunners, striking out six times for a total of 11 K’s on the night. A chance to pad what became a one-run lead emerged in the top of the ninth, when Pillar led off the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a grounder by Rendon. But O’Hoppe grounded out swinging on the first pitch he saw from Chad Green -- a high-and-inside fastball -- and Kavadas struck out to end the threat.

Back-to-back homers against Roansy Contreras in the bottom half handed the Angels their fifth loss in as many games against the Blue Jays.

No one was making excuses after the fact.

“I have to be better in those spots,” said O’Hoppe. “Swinging on that first pitch here, not hitting the ball hard, I just have to be better. I have to put myself in a better spot to at least put [us] in a situation to score those runs, and not try to get too big and do damage. It’s something I’m constantly working on.”

This is very much a process for the Angels, whose lineup features several hitters in their first full Major League season -- including O’Hoppe.

The Angels broke a skid of 17 scoreless innings in Thursday’s ninth inning, when Kavadas launched a three-run homer for his first big league hit. Friday’s second frame again showed that this team has the talent and the discipline to string good at-bats from all corners of the lineup. The next step is doing it consistently.

It all goes back to Washington’s well-articulated point: make good decisions at the plate, and you’ll see the results on the scoreboard. Keep that approach throughout the game, and you won’t need to count on one big inning.

These are lessons that can only be acquired empirically.

“Trying to think back to times when we had success, control your breath and everything goes into calming your nerves down,” said O’Hoppe. “It's a work in progress for a lot of us, but it’s something that will change, for sure.”