Angels Can’t Match Sox

Reliever Francisco Rodriguez and right fielder Vladimir Guerrero will represent the Angels in Tuesday’s All-Star game at Houston. Maybe by then, both will feel like All-Stars again.

Six outs away from a potential momentum-building, three-game road sweep of the Chicago White Sox, Rodriguez failed to hold a three-run lead, and Guerrero committed a critical error that allowed the tying run to score in the eighth inning Thursday.

Juan Uribe then drove a Brendan Donnelly slider off the wall in left field for a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth to lift the White Sox to a 9-8, come-from-behind victory over the Angels in front of 27,845 in U.S. Cellular Field.

“It’s huge,” Donnelly said of the momentum swing between a sweep and a crushing defeat. “Obviously, everyone played well to that point and, again, the bullpen failed. It’s happening too often.”

A bullpen considered one of baseball’s best figured to be bolstered by the June returns of Donnelly, who sat out the first 2 1/2 months of the season because of a broken nose and an elbow injury, and closer Troy Percival, who sat out four weeks because of an inflamed elbow.

But Donnelly has suffered two losses in his first eight appearances, Rodriguez has suffered two blown saves in his last four games, Scot Shields has suffered two losses since June 24, and Percival is still looking for his first save opportunity since coming off the disabled list.

Rodriguez, who entered Thursday with a 1.02 earned-run average and 69 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings, also looked shaky Tuesday, when he loaded the bases before escaping an eighth-inning jam in the Angels’ 6-2 win over Chicago.

He was not so fortunate Thursday. With an 8-5 lead, built on the strength of a 14-hit attack that included three hits and two runs batted in from both David Eckstein and Chone Figgins, Rodriguez gave up a double to Paul Konerko to open the eighth.

Uribe and Ross Gload each popped out to first, but Rodriguez walked No. 8 batter Joe Crede. First baseman Darin Erstad saved two runs with a superb backhanded diving stop of pinch-hitter Willie Harris’ shot down the line.

The ball caromed into foul territory, Erstad’s off-balance flip to Rodriguez at the bag was too late, and Rodriguez and Harris crumpled to the ground after a nasty collision.

With the bases loaded and the runners moving on a 3-and-2 pitch, Timo Perez looped a Rodriguez slider into right field for a single. Two runs scored easily, and a third scored when Guerrero dropped the simple one-hopper.

“I slammed my left knee and got a big bruise, but that didn’t affect me at all,” Rodriguez said of the collision. “I felt great. I didn’t make the pitches I should have made, and it cost us the game.”

Donnelly relieved Rodriguez and struck out Aaron Rowand to preserve the 8-8 tie, but Jose Valentin singled with one out in the ninth and took third on Konerko’s slow roller that squeezed through the middle of the infield.

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia went to a five-man infield, bringing left fielder Jose Guillen in to second base, but Uribe drove a 1-and-2 slider to deep left for the game-winner, dropping the Angels 4 1/2 games behind Texas in the American League West.

“It was the wrong pitch,” Donnelly said of his slider. “If it was down in the dirt, maybe he would have swung on top of it. But I threw it for a strike.”

The Angels made more offensive strides Thursday -- Figgins and Garret Anderson hit consecutive hit-and-run singles in the sixth, Bengie Molina and Adam Kennedy each had two hits, and Figgins hit a big two-run triple in the fourth.

But starter Aaron Sele couldn’t hold a three-run lead in the fifth -- Konerko capped a three-run rally with a two-run single -- Rodriguez couldn’t hold a three-run lead in the eighth, and the Angels, 11-20 since June 4, missed a chance to win three in a row for the first time since June 1-3.

“It’s still a good series because we won two of three,” Donnelly said. “But we had this game. Three of three would have been better.”