Ervin Santana is on his game, Angels aren’t in 3-2 loss to Indians in 11 innings

Reporting from Cleveland — 

A couple of seasons back the Florida Marlins were dangling the likes of Miguel Cabrera and Dan Uggla before the Angels in an effort to lure them into a trade that had all the earmarks of another salary dump by the small-market Marlins.

But once the dust had cleared and Cabrera had been packed off to Detroit, Florida fessed up to what it really wanted.

“That guy right there,” assistant general manager Dan Jennings said, nodding toward the Angels’ Ervin Santana, “was the guy we were after.”

That makes him the Marlin that got away — which is a good thing for the Angels. Because 40 wins and one All-Star appearance later, Santana has turned an otherwise lost 2010 season into something memorable.

For him at least.

Santana took the mound in Cleveland on Thursday in search of his career-high 17th win of the season, a victory that would have moved him another step closer to cementing his status as one of the aces of a young staff. But despite a solid eight innings in which he held the Indians to two runs on four hits, he left empty-handed from a game the Indians won, 3-2, in 11 innings on Alberto Callaspo’s two-out fielding error.

It was Santana’s first no-decision in two months but it extended a hot streak that has seen him win six of his last seven decisions with a 3.46 earned-run average. And while that hasn’t won him much national attention, it has resonated loudly in the Angels’ clubhouse.

“Within our team there’s nothing quiet about what he does,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We see it and we understand the talent. He’s definitely been a guy that’s moving toward the front end of the rotation.”

On a night in which the first pitch was delayed by rain and the last one was thrown in a drizzle, the Indians got to Santana for two third-inning runs on a single and run-scoring doubles by Lou Marson and Shin-Soo Choo. But the right-hander gave up just one hit the rest of the way, allowing the Angels to tie the score off Fausto Carmona in the seventh on two-strike home runs by Hideki Matsui, his 20th, and Mike Napoli, his 25th.

And when Santana left the mound an inning later, he pointed both index fingers toward the sky in celebration of what he says has been his best season.

“So far, so far,” said Santana who, at 27, is the second-youngest member of the rotation. “I’ve got better rhythm, better control and more patience.”

And that has combined to make him a better competitor, Scioscia said.

“He’s got very, very good stuff,” he said. “And he’s evolving as a pitcher as he’s maturing,” he said.

Despite all of Santana’s success, the Angels’ season will end short of the playoffs for the first time in his career. And that has brought about another adjustment.

“I just have to keep my mind positive and keep pounding the strike zone,” Santana said.

Aybar sidelined

Shortstop Erick Aybar, pulled from the lineup just before the game Thursday, will have an MRI exam Friday in Tampa, Fla., in an effort to determine the cause of persistent soreness in his upper left leg.

“We’ll see how it is,” Scioscia said. “This might keep him out a couple of days.”

Brandon Wood started in Aybar’s place and went hitless in four at-bats, dropping his average to .155.

Happy birthday

Dan Haren will mark his 30th birthday by starting Friday’s game in Tampa Bay. But based on past birthday performances, there may not be much worth celebrating afterward.

Haren has started twice on his birthday, losing both times — 4-0 to Seattle in 2007 and 2-1 to Boston in 2005. Both starts came while he was with the Oakland Athletics.

There is one thing working in his favor, though: The Rays are hitting just .204 against Haren in eight starts. That’s his best mark against any American League opponent.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com