Pop Go the Angels in Win Over Tigers

A nippy 44-degree evening failed to cool the Angels, who pounded out 15 hits during a 10-4 pasting of the Detroit Tigers in front of 18,208 at Comerica Park on Tuesday night, extending their winning streak to five games.

But a night in which Troy Glaus fell a home run short of hitting for the cycle, Darin Erstad broke open a one-run game with a three-run, eighth-inning double, and right-hander John Lackey enjoyed his best start this season, was tempered by a groin injury that could send shortstop David Eckstein to the disabled list.

Eckstein “felt a pop” near the back of his right groin while diving back to first base on a pick-off attempt in the top of the first inning and was pulled before the bottom of the first.

He will be reevaluated today, but judging from the way he was limping after the game -- and by the way nagging injuries have sapped the Angels of their depth -- there’s a good chance Eckstein will have to go on the disabled list.

“Any time you lose your leadoff hitter, or any hitter, for that matter, it hurts,” Glaus said. “Someone is going to have to step up and do the job.”

The Angels carried on nicely without Eckstein, improving their road record to 8-3, their best start on the road since 1985. Lackey, 0-3 with an 8.04 earned run average in his first three starts, gave up three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings to gain his first victory.

Building on the momentum from his 6 2/3-inning, seven-hit, three-run performance in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to Texas, Lackey blanked the Tigers on three hits through six innings, not allowing a runner past second base. He had better command of his fastball and mixed in more curveballs and changeups.

“Definitely, I’m moving in the right direction,” said Lackey, who gave up 13 runs -- 11 earned -- in nine innings of his first two starts. “I’m gaining confidence, executing my pitches and incorporating my changeup more. That’s helped.”

With a 5-0 lead, Lackey tired in the seventh, giving up a two-out double to Carlos Guillen and walking Carlos Pena and Eric Munson on eight pitches to load the bases.

Manager Mike Scioscia summoned right-hander Scot Shields to face No. 9 batter Brandon Inge, but Shields grooved a 2-and-1 fastball that Inge lined over the left-field wall for a grand slam that pulled the Tigers within one run.

The Angels loaded the bases in the eighth, and Erstad cleared them with his double to the gap in left-center field against reliever Al Levine. Chone Figgins had a run-scoring double and Vladimir Guerrero, who had three hits, capped the five-run rally with a run-scoring single.

Glaus hit a run-scoring double in the first, a single in the fourth and a run-scoring triple in the fifth. He had two more chances to become the first Angel to hit for the cycle since Dave Winfield in 1991, but he struck out in the seventh and flied out in the eighth.

“It’s one of those things that would have been nice to have, a feather in the cap,” Glaus said of the cycle. “But the bottom line is we won, and that’s all we care about here.”