Moore tries to fill fast shoes

Jeremy Moore is doing his best to reprise the role of Chone Figgins from the Angels’ 2002 World Series championship team, entering as a late-inning pinch-runner Wednesday and Friday and scoring the winning runs in victories over the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees.

“He’s not as polished a baserunner as Chone was when he came up, but he can flat out fly,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We’ll tap into that when we need it.”

The speedy Figgins was called up in September 2002. Used primarily as a pinch-runner, he scored six runs in 15 games and was so valuable that the Angels kept him on their postseason roster.

He scored three runs in the first two playoff rounds and was a big part of the three-run, eighth-inning rally that lifted the Angels to a 6-5 win over San Francisco in Game 6 of the World Series.

After Darin Erstad’s leadoff home run cut the deficit to 5-4, Tim Salmon singled. Figgins ran for Salmon and took third base on Garret Anderson’s pop-fly single down the left-field line.

Barry Bonds bobbled the ball for an error, allowing Anderson to take second base, and Troy Glaus followed with a two-run double.

“G.A. hits the blooper down the line, Figgy pushes the action and forces a misplay by Bonds, and we end up with second and third,” Scioscia said. “That’s the way Chone played. Hopefully, Jeremy will play with that same fearlessness.”

Moore scored from first base on Maicer Izturis’ two-run double in the eighth inning of the Angels’ 3-1 win over Minnesota on Wednesday night. On Friday night, he went from first to third on Vernon Wells’ hit-and-run single to left field and scored on Izturis’ walk-off sacrifice fly in the team’s 2-1 win over New York.

“It was good to see him going first to third on that hit and run,” Scioscia said. “He didn’t even flinch.”

Moore’s speed makes him a natural for a pinch-running role, but the job is not as easy at looks. He has to know the signs and make good decisions on the bases.

“Coming in against the Yankees with the game on the line in a close division race, if that’s not pressure for a guy in his third big league game, I don’t know what is,” Moore said. “My first time up, they’re throwing me into some big situations. It shows what they think of me, and it’s a good opportunity.”

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Sept. 11 tribute

Two former New York Fire Department officials will be part of a ceremony recognizing the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks before Sunday’s game.

Joe Torillo, a retired department lieutenant and survivor of the World Trade Center attack, will be one of six to throw ceremonial first pitches to Scioscia, Torii Hunter and Jered Weaver of the Angels and Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera of the Yankees.

Robert Schiavone, a member of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy but in 2001 a member of FDNY Ladder Co. 39, which was part of the rescue mission when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, will also throw a first pitch.

The other four first-pitch participants will be firefighter-paramedic Christopher Suprun, who responded to the attack on the Pentagon; Navy SEALs member Mike Murphy, and Eric Franssens and Chet Henderson, who have both served multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Short hops

Alex Rodriguez aggravated his sprained left thumb, an injury he first suffered Aug. 21, and the Yankees third baseman was not in Saturday night’s lineup. He is not expected to play Sunday.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com