Pop-Pop-Pop in Angel Step

This was how the Angels, sudden contenders, were supposed to handle the dregs of the American League.

Blow ‘em out.

Courtesy of a big fifth inning, in which they had back-to-back home runs and sent 11 batters to the plate, the Angels enjoyed a laugher at the expense of the bottom-feeding Detroit Tigers Monday night, pounding the American League Central’s last-place team, 7-0.

Immediately after going an impressive 12-8 in a string of games against a group of contending teams (Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, Boston and New York) that entered Monday with a combined .596 winning percentage, the Angels were an ordinary 4-3 against the less-than-fearsome faction of Detroit, Chicago and Toronto, teams that were winning at a .434 clip to start the week.

With the victory, the Angels (70-48) increased their lead in the AL wild-card race to a full game over the Red Sox and moved within two games of the AL West-leading Mariners.

The Tigers (45-73), meanwhile, continued to possess the second-worst record in the league.

Angel starter Kevin Appier (10-9) earned the win, his first home victory since May 20. Appier, 0-6 in his last seven home starts, gave up three hits in 6 2/3 innings. The right-hander walked four and struck out three.

“I thought my stuff was good, really good for me,” Appier said. “My control left me at times, but my stuff made up for it and the bullpen shut them down.”

The Angels’ pitching staff has thrown 22 consecutive scoreless innings.

Detroit starter Mark Redman (7-10) suffered the loss. The left-hander gave up six runs, five earned, and nine hits in four-plus innings. Redman walked two and struck out one.

In front of 19,709 at Edison Field, it took the Angels all of two batters to score in the first inning.

After David Eckstein led off with a triple into the left-field corner, Darin Erstad’s sacrifice fly to center field allowed Eckstein to scamper home and gave the Angels a 1-0 lead.

They added another run in the third.

Scott Spiezio, batting third in the lineup for the first time this season and in place of the injured Tim Salmon, was on first base with a one-out single when Garret Anderson doubled into the right-field corner.

Detroit right fielder Robert Fick fumbled the ball around and the lumbering Spiezio was able to score.

The Angels blew it open in the fifth.

Erstad led off with a drive to deep right that seemed catchable, but Fick couldn’t bring it in. With Erstad racing to third with a triple, Redman screamed at his right fielder.

A disturbed Redman then gave up a first-pitch, two-run home run to the switch-hitting Spiezio, who entered the game batting .350 as a right-handed hitter. It was Spiezio’s seventh homer of the year, his third from the right side.

Two pitches later, on an 84-mph curveball, the left-handed hitting Anderson launched a towering shot than landed in the right-field seats.

Anderson’s 20th homer of the year tied him with Troy Glaus for the team lead.

It was also the sixth time the Angels had hit consecutive home runs.

“I’m not saying anything’s easy,” Spiezio said with a smile when asked if batting ahead of Anderson and Glaus made his job easier in the No. 3 spot.

“It was fun to have some success in that spot,” said Spiezio, who was two for four with two runs scored and two RBIs.

After Redman walked Glaus one batter later, the Detroit starter’s night was finished, although the Angels were just getting started.

Glaus scored on a Tiger error while Detroit attempted a double play, and Alex Ochoa, who joined the Angels in a July 30 trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, had his first RBI as an Angel with a single that drove in Shawn Wooten, who had singled.

Appier said the Angels can’t get caught up in scoreboard watching while they play the likes of the Tigers and Seattle faces the Red Sox and Yankees.

“Regardless of what a team’s record is,” Appier said, “they can beat you on a given night. [Detroit’s] record isn’t that good, but they have some talent ... but we know who’s playing who.”