Angels Don’t Help Lackey

John Lackey says he’s not the superstitious type, but he might be after Thursday night’s 2-0 loss to Baltimore, a game that turned on the Angel right-hander’s only mistake, a 2-and-1 fastball that Oriole catcher Javy Lopez lined into the left-field seats in Camden Yards for a two-run home run in the fourth inning.

That ended Lackey’s string of 62 innings without giving up a homer, the third-longest streak in the major leagues this season.

“I was having lunch with [fellow pitcher Jarrod] Washburn two days ago when he told me about the streak,” Lackey said after throwing his first complete game of the season, giving up nine hits, striking out seven and falling to 10-5. “I’m gonna kick his ... I had no idea.”

Oriole right-hander Rodrigo Lopez (13-7) turned in his usual impressive performance against the Angels, giving up seven hits in seven scoreless innings to improve to 5-1 with a 1.70 earned-run average in seven games over his career against the Angels, whose American League West lead over Oakland was trimmed to 2 1/2 games.

But it’s not as if the Angels, who led the major leagues with a .301 average with runners in scoring position before Thursday, didn’t have their chances. They went one for 10 with runners in scoring position, failing to score after putting runners on first and second to open the fourth and loading the bases with one out in the fifth.

The latter rally faded out when Darin Erstad struck out on three pitches, waving at an 0-1 breaking ball in the dirt and looking at a fastball over the middle for strike three, and then 2004 AL most valuable player Vladimir Guerrero, who has one run batted in in 10 games, struck out on a 2-and-2 pitch in the dirt.

“He bears down in the tough situations, and we haven’t been able to get to him,” Erstad said of Lopez. “Lackey pitched great -- he’s been pitching great all year -- and we didn’t do anything all night. It’s frustrating.”

For the pitchers too. Angel starters have provided quality starts -- going six innings or more and giving up three earned runs or fewer -- in 30 of 39 games since the All-Star break, and the Angels are 21-18 in those games.

The bullpen struggles contributed to a number of those losses, but the team’s failure to sustain much consistency on offense over long stretches of time has put a heavy burden on the rotation.

“It hasn’t been a season where we can pitch OK to win; we have to pitch well to win,” Lackey said. “We know the potential of this offense. We have a lot of great players who can swing the bats. Some guys haven’t had the years they thought they would have, but sometimes you run into some bad luck too.”

Lackey, who has a 3.59 ERA, is not the only Angel starter to receive spotty support. Washburn has a 3.29 ERA and a 7-7 record.

“It happens sometimes, but I can’t complain,” Lackey said. “Washburn has a better ERA and less wins. It’s happened a few times.”

But isn’t it stressful pitching so often with no margin for error?

“I wouldn’t say that,” Lackey said. “You’re aware that you need to pitch well to win, but sometimes that can bring out the best in you. I’ve always enjoyed pitching in big games when the pressure is on. Maybe it’s helped me a bit.”

Lackey ran into trouble in the fourth when he gave up a one-out double to Miguel Tejada. Rafael Palmeiro grounded out to second, advancing Tejada to third. Lackey had the option of pitching around Javy Lopez to get to Jay Gibbons, but he went after Lopez, trying to go up and in with a 2-and-1 fastball.

“I didn’t quite get it up enough,” Lackey said. “Looking back, maybe I should have thrown a slider down and away and taken my chances with the next guy. It’s tough when every pitch means something.”

Lackey escaped jams in the first inning, when Baltimore put the first two runners on, and the seventh, when the Orioles loaded the bases with one out, but he wasn’t quite the escape artist his counterpart was.

“[Rodrigo] Lopez pitched well, but we’ve got to find a way to beat guys like that to get to where we need to be,” Lackey said, “because we’ll be facing plenty of them.”