Hillenbrand left out of the lineup again

Shea Hillenbrand’s offensive funk has apparently reached such depths that the designated hitter was back on the bench for a second consecutive day Thursday afternoon despite the fact that the Angels were facing a left-handed pitcher.

Hillenbrand may be hitting only .225, but he is hitting .286 against left-handers and .298 against left-handers in his career. So it seemed odd that he was in the dugout Thursday instead of taking hacks against Cleveland left-hander Jeremy Sowers in an attempt to work his way out of a prolonged slump.

Asked if he had talked to Manager Mike Scioscia about being out of the lineup for a second consecutive day, Hillenbrand said, “You can talk to him about it. It has nothing to do with me.”

Scioscia said he wanted to use Vladimir Guerrero at designated hitter in an attempt to keep the right fielder fresh and that Hillenbrand probably would be back in the lineup tonight when the Angels open a series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Hillenbrand and Scioscia had a lengthy meeting Wednesday.

Hitting coach Mickey Hatcher said the Angels wanted to give Hillenbrand, who has no home runs and seven runs batted in, a couple of days off “just to get his mind going because he’s grinding so hard. He knows the team needs him so bad, and I think he’s more frustrated than anything.”

Hillenbrand, who is hitting .185 in May and has only six hits in his last 39 at-bats, watched film and received instruction from Hatcher on Wednesday in the batting cage while the Angels played Cleveland.

“I tried to get him back to the way he was, especially when he was with Toronto and he killed us,” Hatcher said. “It didn’t take long in the cage to get him there. I changed his setup a little bit and he just was fantastic, so I’m kind of excited to see him get back out there.”

Hillenbrand didn’t want to talk about his work with Hatcher. “Everything’s good, man,” he said when asked if he was working with Hatcher to find his rhythm. “I have really nothing more to say. Everything’s good.”

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Chone Figgins’ third-inning double ended an 0-for-12 skid. Figgins also stole his first base of the season in the sixth and raised his average from .094 to .139 with two hits.... Bartolo Colon, recovering from a strained triceps muscle, played catch and remained on schedule to make his next start Saturday against Texas, Scioscia said.... Reliever Justin Speier, put on the disabled list Tuesday because of non-baseball-related medical condition, was not scheduled to accompany the Angels on their flight to Texas on Thursday. Scioscia said Speier could rejoin the Angels at some point on their seven-game trip.

ben.bolch@latimes.com