Comeback Fizzles for Angels, 10-7

There are no moral victories this time of year, so the Angels weren’t doing cartwheels when the Boston Red Sox were forced to use their closer in a game they led by nine runs after seven innings Tuesday night.

If this were April or May, the Angels might have gotten a little rise by a two-run rally in the eighth and a ninth-inning grand slam by .141-hitting reserve infielder Alfredo Amezaga, which made a Fenway Park crowd of 35,040 and Red Sox Manager Terry Francona sweat a bit.

But this was the last day of August, and the Angels’ late-game surge did nothing to obscure another shoddy start by John Lackey in a 10-7 loss to the Red Sox.

Lackey (11-11) was roughed up for six runs -- four earned -- and seven hits, in 3 1/3 innings and has given up 27 earned runs on 47 hits, including eight homers, in 32 2/3 innings of his last six starts for a 7.44 earned run average. He gave up two homers Tuesday to Manny Ramirez.

Ramon Ortiz replaced Lackey in the fourth and threw three scoreless innings before giving up four runs, including a three-run homer by former Dodger Dave Roberts, in the seventh.

Combined, Lackey and Ortiz were no match for Boston right-hander Curt Schilling, who gave up three runs and nine hits in 7 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking none, to improve to 17-6.

“We battled all the way and got back into it,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, “but a loss is a loss.”

This one dropped the Angels three games behind Oakland in the American League West and 2 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card race. While the gap in the West widened, the race in the East, all but conceded to the New York Yankees two weeks ago, is suddenly filled with intrigue.

On Aug. 15, the Red Sox trailed the Yankees by 10 1/2 games. With Cleveland’s 22-0 rout of New York on Tuesday, Boston is now only 3 1/2 games back, having trimmed seven games off the lead in 16 days.

The Red Sox have won seven in a row and 13 of 14, inspiring hope all over New England that this could be the summer Boston finally avenges 1978, the year the Red Sox had a 14-game lead over the Yankees in late July, only to blow it and eventually lose to New York in a one-game playoff to determine the division title.

“We’re playing great. The Yankees are having trouble,” Schilling said. “Everybody’s contributing, all 25 guys on our roster. This is a pitching staff to be reckoned with, and I think we’re showing that now.”

Ramirez was a one-man wrecking crew in the first two innings Tuesday, smashing a 3-and-1 Lackey fastball over the right-field wall for a three-run homer in the first and lining a first-pitch fastball over the wall in center in the second, giving him 36 homers on the season and a 5-0 Boston lead.

“He’s our tone-setter when he does that,” Red Sox outfielder Kevin Millar said. “I told Francona, I’ve never hit a 3-1 fastball for a home run to right field in my life. That’s what makes him so special. Then he hits an 0-0 fastball to dead-center. He’s the baddest man in the game.”

Lackey was a close second Tuesday night.

“It’s always tough to face Manny -- he’s one of the best hitters in the league -- but I didn’t locate pitches very well the whole night,” Lackey said. “A lot of guys would have hit those pitches.”

Roberts’ homer made it 10-1, and Scioscia pulled starters David Eckstein, Darin Erstad, Vladimir Guerrero and Bengie Molina in the eighth. The Angels rallied with two runs in the eighth, and Amezaga followed three straight singles with his first career grand slam, off reliever Mike Myers, in the ninth to make it 10-7.

With no outs, Francona summoned closer Keith Foulke, but instead of facing Erstad and Guerrero, the right-hander retired Adam Riggs and Curtis Pride. Garret Anderson doubled, but Jose Guillen grounded out to end the game with slugger Troy Glaus, who would have been the tying run, on deck.

“Glaus kept looking bigger and bigger in the on-deck circle,” Francona said. “We didn’t want to see him come to the plate.”