LOS ANGELES -- Without a complaint or remark, Hunter Bishop rose from the brown cloud and took a silent stroll to the dugout, placing his helmet in a cubby as teammate Carter Aldrete stood at the dish.

Before Bishop could even take a seat, off to reflect about his out-by-a-mile stolen-third-base attempt, Aldrete had lined a double into the left-center gap. The celebration was muddied by the collective realization that Bishop should have been tapping his maroon Adidas cleats across the Dedeaux Field plate.

“He was on his own at that point,” ASU assistant coach Ben Greenspan said on Bishop’s steal. “Our rule there is if you’re gonna go, you have to be safe. I think if he could go back and take it back, he would.”

The curious steal attempt was emblematic of ASU’s recent lull. For a month and a half, the 5th-ranked Sun Devils (25-3, 8-2 Pac-12) had picked every needle out of every haystack, unable to do wrong. They had cruised to a 25-1 record, seemingly always riding the momentum train, confident they would be OK no matter the situation.

And if something did go wrong, that was alright, too. ASU was probably already up a half dozen.

In the last two games, ASU’s mistakes have been magnified. An error here, an error there. A failed stolen base here, a passed ball there. It hadn’t mattered for 26 games. It’s led to a loss in the Sun Devils’ last two games: a 5-run loss to Long Beach State on Tuesday and a 10-6 loss to USC (11-17, 4-6 Pac-12) on Friday night in Los Angeles.

“Everything tonight came down to pitching and defense,” Greenspan said. “Especially defense tonight. Take away one or two guys and almost everyone, defensively, made a mistake.”

Among the more cringe-worthy blunders Friday included Hunter Bishop taking a bad route on a routine fly ball that led to a double. Catcher Sam Ferri dropping Aldrete’s throw from right on a play at the plate. Bishop and Aldrete miscommunicating on a high shot to right field, staring at each other as it dropped to the Earth. Ferri overthrowing third baseman Gage Workman on a USC steal, which brought home a run. And a botched response to a 1st and 3rd double steal, which plated another run.

Phew.

Though ASU starter Alec Marsh, who came into the game championing a 0.94 ERA, allowed 10 hits and eight earned runs, Greenspan wasn’t trying to pin much blame of his junior starter, who clearly wasn’t locating his fastball to the level he’s flashed in the past.

“I think we have good players that are capable of making all of those plays and I think sometimes that stuff snowballs a little bit,” Greenspan said. “Maybe some guys lost some focus in those middle innings when we were kicking it around.”

Including Sunday’s blunder-filled 17-16 win over Arizona, the Sun Devils have allowed 40 runs in its last three games. They’ve given up 10 runs in three straight games after starting the season holding every team to single-digits. Pin it on errors, walks, a lack of focus, anything at this point.

Panic may not be there yet for the Devils. Deep in the distance, it’s visible for, arguably, the first time this season.

Sitting at the Dais minutes after his Top 5 team fell to a then-three-win Long Beach State squad, coach Tracy Smith, who wasn’t made available for comment Friday, wanted the upset to serve as a wake-up call for a team that seemed invincible.

It seemed to be setting in. Greenspan went out of his way mentioning how crisp ASU’s Thursday practice was, a similar tune that was sung by ASU’s coaching brass after their young team’s barrage of gaffes a year ago. And similar to last year, the sloppiness prevailed.

Despite it, ASU still had chances to win.

First baseman Spencer Torkelson was robbed of a three-run home run in the third, trotting around the first base with the confidence of his preseason All-American status just as USC center fielder Matthew Acosta leapt up over the right-center fence, knocking over a pad as he fell to the ground with the ball in his glove.

“Off the bat, when he gets all of it like that,” Greenspan jokes of the play that would have given ASU a 3-1 lead, “it’s usually out of the park.”

In the seventh, with USC leading 9-3, the Sun Devils had the bases loaded with one out. It’s Bash Bros. -- Torkelson and Bishop -- were at the plate. Damage seemed on the horizon. Instead, Torkelson and Bishop both struck out. That damage faded quicker than the light over the Dedeaux Field fence Friday night.

Greenspan wasn’t pleased in the slightest by what the Devils did in their LA series opener. His message, though, remains the same as when ASU was parading off the Tempe dirt two weeks ago.

“It’s their team,” Greenspan said. “We’ve been saying it when they win and say it when they lose. It’s your team, take ownership and just maybe (have) a little bit more focus on the defensive side of the ball."