Win Streak Hits Five With Unexpected Help : Baseball: Lewis pitches five innings in his first start in more than a year and Angels defeat Red Sox, 8-5.

All signs pointed to the end of the Angels’ roll against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium.

Pitcher Scott Lewis had not started a major league game in more than a year. His bruised right elbow had kept him on the disabled list since April 4, and even if he had been sound, he might have spent the Angels’ first 14 games in the bullpen.

But, with only a six-inning stint at double-A Midland on Monday as a tuneup, the Angels called on Lewis to continue their hottest start since 1982.

Suffice to say, Lewis’ right arm wasn’t the steadiest. He gave up four hits and three runs in a five-inning outing that resulted in a no-decision.

However, he set the foundation for Julio Valera’s fine relief work and timely hitting from veteran Chili Davis and rookie J.T. Snow, leading the Angels to an 8-5 victory over Boston before 53,394 at Anaheim Stadium.

The victory was the division-leading Angels’ fifth in a row and kept them two games ahead of the second-place Texas Rangers.

Keeping to their season-long method of operation, the Angels got contributions from unexpected sources. Lewis’ solid five innings of work were among the most noteworthy, but far from the only significant performances of the night.

“Lewis gave us five innings, and the bullpen and the offense did the rest,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “I could have gone six with him, but I didn’t want to go any further. He had a tough fifth. He had given up three runs, and I figured that was enough.”

Said Lewis: “I was real happy with the way I threw. I threw strikes, and I had most of my pitches working.”

Davis, playing the role of the steady veteran, offered more than clubhouse leadership Saturday. His three singles, three runs scored and two runs batted in helped the Angels erase 2-0 and 3-2 deficits.

Snow had a first-inning single and a triple that started the Angels (11-4) on a three-run sixth inning that gave them the lead for good.

Chuck Crim (2-0) earned the victory, and Valera, who figured to be a starter but is reluctantly in the bullpen because of a sore elbow, picked up his second save.

“We beat two good pitchers the last two nights (Frank Viola on Friday and John Dopson on Saturday),” Rodgers said. “We’ve got one more before the job is done.”

The Angels face Roger Clemens at 5 p.m. today.

Saturday, a three-run sixth inning, which began with Snow’s triple off the center-field fence and ended with a baserunning blunder by Torey Lovullo, wiped out a 3-2 Boston lead and gave the Angels the lead for good, 5-3.

Snow’s drive to center eluded Bob Zupcic, who tried for a leaping catch. When Zupcic reached the ball, Snow was heading for third base.

Davis singled home Snow and scored on Rene Gonzales’ sacrifice fly to right field. Tim Salmon, Lovullo and Gary DiSarcina walked to load the bases, which brought up Luis Polonia. He greeted reliever Ken Ryan with a single to relatively short left field. Salmon scored easily, but Lovullo was out when he crashed into catcher Tony Pena.

A slide and Lovullo he would have made it safely ahead of Mike Greenwell’s throw and under Pena’s tag.

A three-run seventh inning and some steady work by the Angel bullpen in relief of Lewis kept their winning streak alive.

“I wanted to go back out there,” Lewis said. “(Rodgers) gave me an 85-pitch limit. I thought he would let me go out again, but he’s the manager. I don’t think he wants to rush me.”

Lewis threw 67 pitches over five innings before he was replaced by Crim with Boston leading, 3-2. The only major flaw in Lewis’ outing was a 2-and-2 pitch that Greenwell hammered into the right-field stands for a bases-empty home run in the fourth inning.

Greenwell’s blast gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead. In the second inning, Andre Dawson scored the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly by John Valentin.

The Angels broke through against Boston starter John Dopson with two runs in the fourth. Davis’ single to center scored Chad Curtis, whose double had extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Curtis’ run marked the 11th consecutive game in which he has scored, an Angel record.

After Salmon hit a ground-rule double into the left-field corner, Greg Myers scored Davis with a groundout. Dopson avoided further trouble by striking out Gonzales to end the inning.

Leading, 3-2, to start the sixth inning, Dopson gave up a triple to Snow, and Red Sox Manager Butch Hobson went to the bullpen.