Angels Win and Catch the A’s on the Rebound

Vladimir Guerrero received the Barry Bonds treatment Thursday in Oakland, where the Angel slugger was walked intentionally three times, leaving him powerless to prevent a crushing loss to the A’s. Friday night in Seattle, Guerrero gave the Mariners the Barry Bonds treatment.

Guerrero hit a pair of prodigious home runs that would have made the San Francisco Giant slugger proud, becoming the first player to hit two balls into Safeco Field’s upper deck in the same game, and added a key single in a game-breaking, five-run eighth inning to lead the Angels to a confidence-restoring 9-4 victory.

“You can’t square a ball up any better than those two home runs,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Guerrero, whose shots off Jamie Moyer traveled an estimated 431 feet in the fourth inning and 434 feet in the sixth, and were the 43rd and 44th to reach the upper deck in Safeco’s seven-year history. “Those were two of the farthest balls I’ve ever seen hit at this field.”

The Angels then exchanged the long ball for some little ball, using six singles to snap a 4-4 tie in the eighth. Garret Anderson, who missed the previous two games because of a knee injury, knocked in the go-ahead run, and the Angels added four more runs to move back into a first-place tie with Oakland atop the American League West.

Just as important as the offensive outburst was a clutch relief performance from Brendan Donnelly, who coughed up a four-run, seventh-inning lead in Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the A’s -- the second of back-to-back late-inning defeats for the Angels in Oakland. Donnelly rebounded strongly Friday, escaping a second-and-third, one-out jam to preserve a 4-4 tie in the seventh.

“That was important for me, for the team, and for the bullpen, because we’re all still one,” said Donnelly, who has allowed only two of 21 inherited runners to score this season. “We don’t need anyone to tell us we haven’t been as good as people and ourselves expect lately.

“We know we’re part of the reason we lost an [8 1/2 -game] lead. But with the game on the line, we were able to hold them and let the offense do its thing. That’s the style of baseball we want to play as opposed to the kind of baseball we’ve played lately.”

Six of the 14 blown saves by Angel relievers have come in the last 13 games, all on the road, and Angel relievers were torched for 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings of the previous four games. The ultimate indignity came Thursday, when closer Francisco Rodriguez muffed a throw back the mound, allowing Oakland to score the winning run in the ninth inning.

“The way [Thursday’s] game ended was probably the best thing to happen to us because it was a wake-up call for everyone,” Donnelly said. “Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to realize something is wrong and you have to fix it.”

Angel left-hander Jarrod Washburn was shaky in his first start since July 24, giving up a two-run home run to Adrian Beltre in the second inning and committing a throwing error that cost the Angels two more runs in the third.

Washburn ran into more trouble in the seventh when he walked Jeremy Reed to open the inning and gave up a ground-rule double to Yuniesky Betancourt.

Washburn retired Scott Spiezio on a foul pop to first, and Scioscia summoned Donnelly.

Donnelly struck out pinch-hitter Dave Hansen looking at a fastball on the outside corner and came within an inch of disaster during an intentional walk to Ichiro Suzuki when catcher Bengie Molina had to leap high for Donnelly’s second pitch.

What did Donnelly think as that ball came out of his hand? “I thought, damn, we’re down by one,” he said. “Fortunately, Bengie is as agile as he is.”

After completing the walk, Donnelly retired Willie Bloomquist on a grounder to second to end the inning.

The Angel offense took it from there. Darin Erstad opened the eighth with a walk from reliever J.J. Putz and took third on Guerrero’s single to right. Anderson singled to right for a 5-4 lead. Molina, who homered in the second, Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera added RBI singles, and Adam Kennedy had a sacrifice fly.

“That’s what we thrive on, stringing hits together,” Erstad said. “It was a team effort.”