Rangers Have Byrd in Hand

ARLINGTON, Texas — Angel Manager Mike Scioscia is confident that his struggling starting pitchers will be fine “once they get their sea legs under them,” but nine games into the season, it seems the rotation is in need of a flotation device.

Paul Byrd was the latest Angel starter to get roughed up when the veteran right-hander was rocked for six runs in six innings of a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night, putting the Angels in a five-run hole their offense, game as it was, could not quite climb out of.

The Angels left town with another series victory, having out-slugged the Rangers to win the first two games in Ameriquest Field, but the rotation Scioscia likes to call his “five-part machine” is not exactly purring.

Angel starters have given up 33 earned runs in 51 2/3 innings this season for a 5.75 earned-run average, and the last four-man turn of Bartolo Colon, Jarrod Washburn, John Lackey and Byrd produced an ERA of 8.46, the four having given up 21 earned runs in 22 1/3 innings.

“Absolutely,” Byrd said, when asked whether the rotation needs to pitch better. “Our hitting has been great. Our rotation ... we all know we have to step it up. It’s still early, but these wins at the start of the season [count] the same as the ones in September, and you don’t want to give any away. We have to pitch better as a staff.”

Angel pitching statistics might be skewed by the fact that they have played six of nine games against the Rangers, who have one of baseball’s most explosive lineups, but Scioscia didn’t necessarily agree.

“When our guys execute pitches, they get on a good run. When you get out of a groove, no major league lineup is going to be forgiving,” he said. “The Rangers are a challenge, no doubt, but if we execute pitches, we’ll get the results we need.”

Byrd, who is 0-2 with a 6.92 ERA in two starts as an Angel, gave up eight hits and walked three Wednesday, uncharacteristic for a control specialist who walked 38 in 228 1/3 innings with Kansas City in 2002. “I don’t remember the last time I walked three guys in a game,” Byrd said.

One of those walks came during the Rangers’ four-run fifth inning, which broke a 1-1 tie. Kevin Mench led off with a bloop single, and two outs later, Alfonso Soriano singled and Hank Blalock walked to load the bases.

Byrd left a first-pitch fastball up to Michael Young, who drove it to deep center, where Steve Finley leaped at the wall but couldn’t make the catch. Young had a three-run triple, and Mark Teixeira followed with a run-scoring double to right to make it 5-1.

“I should have caught it,” said Finley, the Angels’ new center fielder. “I jumped too soon. I had another step, and it was bad judgment on my part. I should have known where the wall is.”

Byrd lost his bearings during the inning as well.

“I just couldn’t make a pitch -- that’s what the game boiled down to,” he said. “I could not make a pitch to get a strikeout or the last out of the inning.... It’s frustrating, and I’m a little embarrassed.”

Adrian Gonzalez’s solo homer off Byrd in the sixth made it 6-1, but the Angels rallied in the seventh when Finley singled, Orlando Cabrera doubled and Bengie Molina hit a two-run double to make it 6-3.

The Angels threatened in the eighth when Garret Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero singled with two out. Finley, representing the tying run, struck out swinging on a Ron Mahay fastball that was several inches above the strike zone.

“I swung at a bad pitch,” Finley said.

The Angels mounted a two-out rally in the ninth when Maicer Izturis tripled and Chone Figgins, who hit a solo homer off Ranger starter and winner Chan Ho Park in the third, walked off reliever Doug Brocail.

Texas Manager Buck Showalter summoned closer Francisco Cor- dero, and Darin Erstad greeted the hard-throwing right-hander with a two-run single to left, making it 7-5. But with Guerrero on deck, Cordero got Juan Rivera to ground to short, ending the game.

“We were one hit away from getting the American League most valuable player up,” Scioscia said. “That would have been a nice situation.”