Angels Alone in First Again

The Angels dusted off a page from their 2002 manual Friday night, using a persistent offense and some impenetrable relief work to compensate for shortcomings in their rotation and produce the kind of magical ending they have lacked this season.

Robb Quinlan’s bases-loaded, pinch-hit single in the bottom of the 12th inning scored Vladimir Guerrero with the winning run for a 7-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers, and the Angels, victims of eight walk-off losses since the All-Star break, enjoyed a little walk-off celebration of their own at Angel Stadium.

Making their helmet-pounding assault on Quinlan even more sweet was the fact that Oakland lost earlier in the evening to Boston, giving the Angels a one-game lead over the A’s in the American League West with 15 games remaining.

The Angels ended a four-game losing streak, and an offense that has been searching for some kind of spark now has 22 runs and 41 hits in the last three games

“It seems like we’ve come to this point numerous times this season, where you wonder if you’re over the bump in the road and things are going to start to click,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “This would be a good time for it.”

Guerrero started the winning rally with a single to right field off Tiger reliever Vic Darensbourg. Darin Erstad dropped a sacrifice bunt, but Darensbourg’s throw pulled first baseman Chris Shelton off the bag, and Erstad was safe.

Bengie Molina advanced both runners with a perfect sacrifice bunt to third, and Maicer Izturis, who entered as a defensive replacement in the top of the 11th, was walked intentionally to load the bases.

Quinlan, hitting for Jeff DaVanon, then stroked Darensbourg’s first pitch through the left side of a drawn-in infield to score Guerrero and end the 3-hour, 55-minute game.

“It’s a lot of time spent in the cage.... You’ve got to stay loose; it can be a little tough after re-stretching six different times during the game,” Quinlan said. “But you never know when the opportunity is going to come.”

Quinlan’s hit made a winner of starter-turned-reliever Kelvim Escobar, who gave up one hit and struck out three in three scoreless innings. Scot Shields pitched a scoreless eighth, and Francisco Rodriguez added a scoreless ninth.

“Kelvim just shined the whole night,” Scioscia said. “That gives us a big lift. It’s one of the reasons we have him down there, for depth.”

The same Angel offense that has been most responsible for a mediocre second half pounded out 17 hits to bail out starter John Lackey, who gave up as many home runs (three) as he had in his previous 18 starts, and Scioscia, whose questionable decision to leave Lackey in the game in the sixth was costly.

Shelton hit a two-run home run in the first inning, the first homer Lackey had given up at home since May 9, but Lackey was dominant until the sixth, retiring the next 15 batters.

The Angels, on the strength of three bloop singles and a bases-loaded wild pitch by Tiger starter Jason Johnson, scored three runs in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.

But after Lackey got Curtis Granderson to ground out to start the sixth, he gave up four rockets, the first a home run by Placido Polanco off the left-field foul pole that pulled Detroit within 4-3.

Brandon Inge then smashed a grounder that caromed off Lackey’s right ankle to third baseman Chone Figgins, who grabbed the ball with his bare hand and fired to first in time for the out.

But Shelton lined a single to left-center, and Magglio Ordonez lined a single to left, bringing up left-handed-hitting Carlos Pena. Shields started warming during the Ordonez at-bat, but left-hander Jason Christiansen, who struck out Pena on three pitches Thursday, never got up.

Scioscia left Lackey in, and Pena hit a three-run home run far over the right-field wall for a 6-4 Tiger lead, giving Detroit three home runs in consecutive games for the first time this season.

But the Angels rallied in the seventh when Figgins drew a leadoff walk and took third on Orlando Cabrera’s hit-and-run single. Cabrera stole second without a throw.

Garret Anderson followed with a productive out, grounding to the right side to score Figgins to make it 6-5 and advance Cabrera to third.

Detroit Manager Alan Trammell elected to have reliever Franklyn German pitch to Guerrero, who looped a run-scoring single to right to make it 6-6. Left-hander Jamie Walker came on to retire Erstad on a fly to center, and after Craig Dingman walked Molina, Steve Finley struck out to end the inning.

That took Lackey, who was 6-1 with a 1.94 earned-run average in his previous 11 starts, off the hook after a sub-par start in which the right-hander was tagged for six earned runs and seven hits in seven innings.