Felix a Hit, Moves Up Charts : Angels: His six RBIs in 8-5 victory over Indians are a personal best and tie him for the American League lead with 20.

Trying to put Junior Felix’s four-hit, six-runs-batted-in spree into perspective, Angel Manager Buck Rodgers quickly ran out of superlatives.

“Those are days most major league players don’t get,” Rodgers said. “The most I ever had in a game was five, but I wasn’t a very good hitter. I could name a lot of guys in this clubhouse who never had six. In both clubhouses. Maybe the league.”

Felix joined the league RBI leaders Thursday by hitting a three-run homer, a two-run single and an RBI single in the Angels’ 8-5 rout of the Cleveland Indians.

A crowd of 4,675, nearly lost in a sea of 70,000 empty seats at Cleveland Stadium and a heavy mist rolling in from Lake Erie, saw Felix collect his first five RBIs while hitting left-handed against Jeff Shaw (0-1) and surpass his personal-best production production with a run-scoring single in the seventh batting right-handed against reliever Eric Bell.

“He’s working a lot harder this season, and (hitting instructor) Rod Carew is on top of him all the time,” said Luis Polonia, who was driven home by Felix in the fifth and seventh innings. “He’s working hard in batting practice and getting RBIs hitting right-handed more. We need him to do that.”

The homer off Shaw--who replaced scheduled starter Jack Armstrong while Armstrong attended the birth of his second child--was Felix’s third this season, one more than he hit in 66 games in 1991. With 15 RBIs in his last seven games and 20 overall, Felix passed Hubie Brooks for the team lead and tied Detroit’s Cecil Fielder for the American League lead.

Brooks didn’t make it easy for Felix, hitting a two-run homer in the fifth inning that negated Cleveland’s comeback against Joe Grahe (2-2) and put the Angels ahead, 7-3.

“In Texas and Kansas City I didn’t hit good, so I told myself, ‘Just think and do the things you did last year,’ ” said Felix, who ended last season by hitting .325 in his last 23 games. “When I go to bat, I wait for my pitch and make it come. . . . I don’t look any time to hit the ball out of the park. I just want to make contact and make things happen.”

He made them happen in the third inning, after Gary DiSarcina walked and went to third base on Chad Curtis’ hit-and-run single. Felix lined Shaw’s first pitch over the fence in right-center field. It was the Angels’ 20th homer.

“Before I took the job last year, there was a big deal about the lack of home runs here,” Rodgers said. “You could just feel the pressure. If you go up and try to hit homers, you’re not going to hit ‘em.

“This little spurt we’ve had in April is an example of guys not trying to hit home runs. This year, it’s icing on the cake. It’s nice to get, but we’re not going to center our offense around the two- or three-run home run. Maybe the pressure’s off, and that’s why guys are hitting ‘em.”

After the Indians pulled even in the fourth inning on singles by Albert Belle, Mark Whiten and Brook Jacoby, Felix broke the tie in the fifth with a single to right field, scoring DiSarcina and Polonia. Cleveland scored twice in the sixth inning to cut the Angels’ lead to 7-5 and end Grahe’s outing, but Felix drove in the final run with a single to left after Polonia walked and Curtis singled in the seventh.

“We’ve been doing a lot of good things, getting guys over and in position so somebody can drive in a run,” Felix said. “You do all those things and you’re going to win.”

The Angels have won two of three on this trip and 11 of 21 in April, the first time they have won more than 10 games in April since they were 15-10 in 1989.

“Our offense has been fairly consistent all year,” Rodgers said. “We’re putting some numbers up. Now we’re waiting for the pitching to come around. That’s been advertised (as our strength), and it hasn’t been there consistently yet. Until it does, it’s nice to have the hitting pick up the slack.”