Recovery Signs for Angels

CLEVELAND â€”  The Angel offense finally seemed whole again Friday night, with three players who missed a combined 167 games because of injuries this season -- Bengie Molina, Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus -- cracking home runs in a 10-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians in front of 20,994 in Jacobs Field.

Kelvim Escobar (9-9) provided another solid start, giving up four runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings to help the Angels rebound from a three-game sweep at the hands of the sizzling Boston Red Sox in the suffocating confines of Fenway Park.

But it was still tough for the Angels to muster much enthusiasm afterward. Oakland and Boston won Friday night, leaving the Angels four games behind the A’s in the American League West and 4 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the wild-card race with 28 games to go.

And one of the Angels’ top run producers, left fielder Jose Guillen, could be sidelined for a couple of days because of a repetitive-stress injury in his right wrist, which could hamper him after he returns to the lineup.

Guillen, who is hitting .299 with 26 home runs and 101 runs batted in, was pulled after grounding out in the top of the seventh inning, and Manager Mike Scioscia said the No. 5 hitter was experiencing symptoms consistent with carpal tunnel syndrome. Guillen, who also has some inflammation in his left wrist, will be examined by a physician and undergo tests today.

“The last four days, I’ve had a lot of numbness in my hand,� Guillen said. “My hand feels heavy. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not normal.�

The A’s, who have won 10 of 11 games and came from behind to beat Toronto on Friday night, are also weighing the Angels down. The Angels have won 13 of 18 games since Aug. 14, and their AL West deficit has grown from 1 1/2 to four games in that span. They have not gained ground on Oakland since Aug. 22.

Six of the Angels’ final 10 games are against the A’s, three in Anaheim on Sept. 24 to 26 and three in Oakland to close the season Oct. 1 to 3.

“We play Oakland six more times, so is the deficit unmanageable? No,� Glaus said. “If we come into those six games eight games out, then yeah, it’s more difficult. We need to play well now to give ourselves an opportunity those last 10 days to beat the team we’re chasing.�

That means they will need a lot more performances like Friday night, when Molina broke a scoreless tie with a two-out, three-run homer off Cleveland starter Scott Elarton in the fourth, Anderson blasted a two-run shot in the fifth, and Glaus led off the sixth with a solo shot, his first homer since May 11.

The Angels had 13 hits, including three by Anderson, who also drove in three runs, and they tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh and ninth innings, a perfectly executed hit-and-run single by Darin Erstad highlighting the ninth.

“We can hit home runs, we can execute hit-and-run plays, we can score a lot of ways,� Glaus said. “That gives us some leeway. We can put some streaks together.�

Molina’s homer relieved the tension built up in the first inning, when the Angels failed to score despite singles by David Eckstein and Erstad to open the game, and the third inning, when they failed to score after Molina’s single and Chone Figgins’ double put runners on second and third with no outs.

Anderson and Guillen each singled to open the fourth, and it appeared Elarton might escape another jam when right fielder Jody Gerut leaped at the wall to catch Glaus’ drive and Adam Kennedy flied to left for the second out.

But Molina lofted a 1-and-1 changeup over the wall in left for a three-run home run, and the Angels had some breathing room. Seven of Molina’s 10 homers this season have tied the game or given the Angels the lead.

“Big time,� Kennedy said, when asked whether Molina’s homer eased the pressure in the Angel dugout. “That was just what we needed right there. We got two big lifts tonight -- Bengie’s homer and Escobar’s pitching.�

Escobar used a sinking fastball to induce double plays in the first and second innings and retired three in a row after allowing two singles to open the fourth. He gave up a two-run homer to Travis Hafner in the sixth but that merely trimmed the Angel lead to 6-2.

“The key tonight was when I got into tough situations early, I kept the ball down and tried to get the ground ball,� said Escobar, who stifled a lineup that scored 22 runs against the Yankees on Tuesday. “That was huge for me right there.�