Angels End Trip as High as a Byrd

The Angels were nearly a footnote to history when they began their nine-game swing through New York, Minnesota and Seattle, opening the trip on the wrong end of Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez’s three-homer, 10-RBI game April 26.

By the end of their tour through the Northeast, the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, a round-trip journey of 6,850 miles with stops in three time zones, the Angels left their footprints all over a significant segment of the American League.

Right-hander Paul Byrd delivered the Angels’ fourth consecutive quality start and sixth in eight games, giving up two runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings of Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over Seattle in front of an announced crowd of 26,303 in Safeco Field.

Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run home run, his seventh, and Orlando Cabrera, Dallas McPherson and Garret Anderson had run-scoring singles to help the Angels complete a three-game sweep of the Mariners.

Combined with two victories in three games at New York and their victory over the Twins on Sunday that ended Johan Santana’s 17-game winning streak, the Angels were 6-3 on the trip, improving to 17-11 this season and pushing their lead in the AL West to 2 1/2 games over Texas.

“We’ll take that,” first baseman Darin Erstad said. “We’re playing OK, but we’ve been pitching really well, and when you do that and play good defense, you have a chance.”

Indeed, after a 12-4 loss in Yankee Stadium, the Angels gave up 16 earned runs in 70 innings over the next eight games, an earned-run average of 2.06. Starters Bartolo Colon, Jarrod Washburn, John Lackey, Byrd and Kelvim Escobar had an ERA of 1.96 in that span, giving up 12 earned runs in 55 innings. The Angels did not score more than five runs in any game on the trip.

“That tells you what good pitching can do,” Erstad said. “You put a few runs on the board, and they hold the lead. That’s huge.”

Guerrero, hitless in the first two games in Seattle, broke out of his mini-slump with a two-run shot to left field against starter Aaron Sele in the first inning Wednesday, and after Seattle scored twice in the bottom of the second, Cabrera and McPherson had run-scoring singles in the third for a 4-2 lead.

Byrd, who had a 5.29 ERA and had been hit hard in four of his five starts, made it stand up, blanking a struggling Mariner offense over his final 4 2/3 innings with equal parts guile and good fortune.

Three hard-hit balls down the line each went foul “by a foot,” Byrd said, and Erstad turned Jeremy Reed’s wicked fourth-inning liner into a double play. With runners on first and third and one out in the fifth, Byrd retired No. 3 batter Adrian Beltre on a grounder to the mound and cleanup hitter Richie Sexson on a popup to second.

“I needed that win for sanity purposes,” said Byrd, who improved to 2-3 and lowered his ERA to 4.85 despite pitching most of the game with a tight right groin. “The big turning point was Erstad’s double play -- that gave me a lot of confidence. Some breaks started going my way. I think those things all even out.”

Byrd, who threw 97 pitches -- 72 for strikes -- held speedy leadoff batter Ichiro Suzuki hitless in four at-bats and departed with one out and a runner on first in the seventh.

Jake Woods, who has solidified his role as the Angels’ left-handed relief specialist, struck out Randy Winn on a full-count changeup to end the seventh and preserve a 4-2 lead, Brendan Donnelly pitched a scoreless eighth and closer Francisco Rodriguez retired the side in order in the ninth for his seventh save.

“As the trip went on, we pitched a lot better, and that’s what we need,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “After the first game in New York, guys began to find a comfort level, make pitches and go deep into games.

“You can absorb some guys who are struggling, but at some point these guys have to pitch into the seventh and eighth inning for our bullpen to stay where it needs to be. We’ve been able to do that.”