Rodriguez’s ankles are a source of concern

Francisco Rodriguez’s arm is fine, but some cracks are showing in his foundation -- namely, the closer’s ankles, which are both sprained, heavily taped, and, in the words of Manager Mike Scioscia, a cause for “concern.”

Rodriguez injured his left ankle when he landed in a hole on the mound last August. He twisted the right ankle while skipping down the dugout steps before Saturday’s game against Texas.

Though he saved Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Rangers, it was a chore, a 19-pitch inning he winced and grimaced his way through.

Monday against Cleveland, it was clear Rodriguez was hurt -- he was charged with three runs in the ninth inning, giving up two walks and consecutive, run-scoring doubles by Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta, for his first blown save of the season.

After his second walk, to Ryan Garko, Scioscia and trainer Adam Nevala came to the mound, and Rodriguez was pulled in favor of Scot Shields.

“I couldn’t get any balance on my back leg, and I was using all arm, not pushing off the rubber with my leg,” Rodriguez said. “I couldn’t locate my fastball. I had no power in my legs.”

Rodriguez doesn’t think his injuries will force him to the disabled list, “but I might need to give it a couple of days,” he said.

The closer, who was spared the loss when the Angels rallied for a 6-4 victory, will be examined by a physician today.

Though Rodriguez converted his first three save opportunities, he doesn’t look like the same reliever who led the major leagues with 132 saves from 2005-07.

His fastball, normally about 94 mph, has hovered around 91 mph, and his usually nasty slider hasn’t been that sharp. The right-hander admits to feeling pain -- “You sprain your ankle, “you’re going to feel it,” he said -- and is trying to block it out.

“When you have the adrenaline going, you don’t feel it,” Rodriguez said before the game. “You feel it afterward. Then, it’s no fun.”

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Trailing, 1-0, in the sixth inning Monday night, the Angels took advantage of Cleveland’s sloppy defense to tie the score with a rally that Casey Kotchman sparked with a single off Indians starter Fausto Carmona.

The slow-footed Kotchman, who had all of six stolen bases in his career, took off for second, but Martinez, the Cleveland catcher, dropped the pitch and had no chance to throw. Kotchman had his first stolen base since last May 4 and the Angels’ fourth of the evening.

Erick Aybar grounded to second, moving Kotchman to third, and Mike Napoli hit a routine grounder that third baseman Casey Blake fielded cleanly. But Blake sailed his throw wide of first for an error, allowing Kotchman to score for a 1-1 tie.

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John Lackey, on the DL because of a triceps strain, has extended his long-toss program to 120 feet and, Scioscia said, has been “throwing aggressively” off flat ground at 60 feet.

Lackey is scheduled to begin throwing off a mound this week and, barring a setback, could return to the rotation in the first half of May.

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Torii Hunter left Sunday’s game after an eighth-inning at-bat in which he “felt something grab near his hip,” Scioscia said, but Hunter was back in center field Monday night and obviously sound. He hit two home runs, including a walk-off grand slam.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com