Blooper Not Funny to Angels

ARLINGTON, Texas â€”  The joy ride ended for John Lackey and the Angels on Wednesday night, but not without a last-minute burst of acceleration and exhilaration around the final turn.

Alfonso Soriano’s bloop single to right field off reliever Scot Shields with two out in the 11th inning scored Mark Teixeira from second to lift the Texas Rangers to a 7-6 victory before an announced 20,112 at Ameriquest Field, ending the Angels’ win streak at eight and trimming their American League West lead to 7 1/2 games.

A day that began in controversy for the Rangers when pitcher Kenny Rogers assaulted two television cameramen before batting practice ended with as much relief as jubilation, because Texas won for only the second time in 10 games after blowing a late three-run lead.

The Angels, down to their last strike in the ninth against Francisco Cordero, one of baseball’s more dominant closers, got a pinch-hit, two-run home run from Dallas McPherson, who sat out three full games and most of Wednesday’s game because of tightness in his left groin.

McPherson hit for catcher Jose Molina, who had replaced starter Josh Paul, which forced Bengie Molina, who missed three games because of food poisoning and wasn’t near full strength, to catch in the bottom of the ninth.

Angel reliever Brendan Donnelly threw a scoreless ninth and 10th, but Teixeira beat the Angels’ shift, which placed second baseman Adam Kennedy in shallow right field, by beating out a slow roller to second with one out in the 11th.

Teixeira took second on Shields’ wild pitch, and after Hank Blalock struck out, Soriano delivered the winner.

“With the comeback we had, guys coming in hurt and sick ... to lose that game hurts, to have come back and played with the guts we showed,� Shields said.

To lose on an infield dribbler and a bloop was of no consolation to Shields.

“It doesn’t make it any easier -- it’s still a loss,� Shields (6-5) said. “It doesn’t matter how it happened, but that’s what makes baseball a great game. Sometimes they hit balls hard right at people; sometimes they don’t, and they get hits.�

Angel right fielder Vladimir Guerrero almost always hits the ball hard against the Rangers, and he did again Wednesday, when his 13th home run of the season, a solo shot in the eighth off starter Ricardo Rodriguez, pulled the Angels within 6-4.

Guerrero, whose 10th-inning single was his 1,500th hit, has a 30-game hit streak against the Rangers and has a .435 average with 12 homers and 27 runs batted in against them.

“The way he’s been swinging,� Manager Mike Scioscia said, “I thought it was about his 5,000th hit.�

Jeff DaVanon sparked the ninth-inning rally with a two-out, ground-rule double. Up stepped McPherson, who swung and missed the first pitch.

“Ninety-seven mph out of the chute,� McPherson said. “That first one got on me pretty quick.�

McPherson fouled off the second pitch, and when Cordero caught too much of the plate with an 0-and-2 fastball, McPherson sent it to the lawn above the center-field wall for his eighth homer and a 6-6 tie.

The Angels took advantage of right fielder Gary Matthews’ first-inning error to score three runs, Garret Anderson driving in one with a fielder’s choice and Maicer Izturis hitting a two-out, two-run double.

But the Rangers, who struck out seven times in the first four innings, finally solved Lackey in the fifth with a four-run rally that featured Michael Young’s RBI single, Teixeira’s two-run double and Blalock’s RBI single, all with two out.

Lackey, who was 5-1 with a 2.56 earned-run average in his last 12 starts, struck out Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix to open the sixth but hit Rod Barajas with an 0-and-2 pitch and gave up a two-run home run to Matthews, the Rangers’ No. 9 hitter. That gave Texas a 6-3 lead.

“I can’t give up a home run to that guy,� Lackey said of Matthews, who has three homers this season. “With all the other guys they have in that lineup, I can’t let that guy beat me. And I had two strikes on Barajas and hit him. That was my biggest mistake.�