Angels Go to Backup Plan in Victory

The first baseman is on the disabled list. So is the third baseman, and the center fielder, and the designated hitter, and the setup man. The closer could be next, or the shortstop, or maybe both.

This might not be the preferred method for pursuing a championship, but so far it’s working just fine for the Angels. On a night shortstop David Eckstein left the game because of a hamstring injury and closer Troy Percival received a cortisone injection to combat inflammation in his pitching elbow, some new comrades carried the Angels to victory.

One night after driving in nine of the Angels’ 10 runs, Vladimir Guerrero got some help. He drove in one run, Jose Guillen drove in two, and Raul Mondesi hit his first home run as an Angel and threw a runner out at home plate, all in support of Kelvim Escobar. With Escobar carrying a shutout into the seventh inning, the Angels handed the Cleveland Indians a 5-2 defeat in front of 39,053 at Edison Field.

The Angels, tied with the New York Yankees for the most victories of any team in the major leagues, opened a three-game lead over the Texas Rangers in the American League West. The lead is the largest of any division leader.

Eckstein extended his hitting streak to 18 games and lifted his batting average to .300 with a double in the third inning. Chone Figgins singled him home, but as he scored he suffered a strained right hamstring and had to leave the game.

Eckstein sat out three weeks last season, in part because of nerve irritation in the same hamstring, but Manager Mike Scioscia said he thought this injury was unrelated and appeared to be “more of a cramp, we hope.”

Eckstein, replaced at shortstop Thursday by Alfredo Amezaga, was unavailable for comment after the game. Bench coach Joe Maddon, interim manager for the evening while Scioscia served a one-game suspension, felt confident enough in Eckstein’s condition to joke about it.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” he said. “He’s only got a little hammy anyway.”

Escobar pitched eight innings, with command complementing a 95-mph fastball and what Maddon called “as good a breaking ball repertoire as anybody in the American League.” He walked one, struck out six and got two outs while giving up his one run, on a double-play ground ball with the bases loaded against his cousin, Cleveland outfielder Alex Escobar.

Kelvim Escobar -- displaying the consistency the Angels have yet to see from his more expensive colleague in free agency, Bartolo Colon -- pitched into the seventh inning for the fourth consecutive start. He has not given up more than four earned runs in any of his 10 starts.

At 3.79, Escobar has the lowest earned-run average among the Angel starters who opened the season in the rotation. Colon, whose $51-million contract is the richest awarded a pitcher in franchise history, is at 5.43.

“Bartolo is struggling right now. Everybody goes through that,” Escobar said. “I’ve been through that. He’ll be all right. As a starter, what you have to do is pick each other up. He’s going through a tough stretch, but he’ll be fine.”