It’s Odd, but a Win for Angels

It was a wacky Sunday in Camden Yards, with Oriole catcher Javy Lopez hitting a two-run home run that wasn’t, Angel shortstop Maicer Izturis dropping a line drive to start a double play, Angel pitcher John Lackey briefly replacing Vladimir Guerrero in the third spot in the Angel order, and Guerrero snapping out of a hitting slump ... despite entering with a .425 average.

But amid this afternoon of oddities, which also included minor injuries that knocked Angel designated hitter Tim Salmon and closer Francisco Rodriguez out of the game, were two constants for the Angels -- the reliable right arm of Lackey and the powerful bat of Guerrero.

Lackey gave up two runs and six hits in eight innings, and Guerrero, who had not had an extra-base hit since the first inning of the April 3 season opener, hit a pair of solo home runs and a run-scoring single, leading the Angels to a 9-3 victory that ended a three-game losing streak.

Izturis, making his first start of the season, had a single, a double, a suicide squeeze and three runs, and Chone Figgins turned the game into a blowout with a three-run home run in the eighth. The Angels came to Baltimore with seven home runs in nine games; they’ve hit seven homers in three games here.

“Unbelievable, huh?” Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy said, summing up the day. “It was a little crazy. There was a weird feeling to that game.”

Nothing was stranger than Baltimore’s base-running gaffe in the second, when Lopez passed Miguel Tejada between first and second and turned a two-run home run into an RBI single and an out.

With the Angels leading, 1-0, after Guerrero’s first-inning homer, Tejada singled to open the second. Lopez’s long drive into the left-center field seats barely cleared the glove of center fielder Darin Erstad, who survived a violent collision with the wall.

But Tejada, thinking Erstad had made the catch, retreated from second back to first, and Lopez passed Tejada on his way to second. Lopez, though credited with an RBI single, was ruled out, and the score remained 1-1.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen that,” said Salmon, a 14-year veteran. “That’s some bad luck right there.”

It was some bad base running by both Lopez and Tejada, neither of whom accepted blame.

“We thought the guy caught it and were waiting for the umpire to make the call, but we didn’t see any call,” Lopez said. “It’s nobody’s fault.”

Said Tejada: “I thought he caught the ball, so I had to go back. I did the right thing.”

Izturis scored the go-ahead run in the third with some alert base running, taking off from third at just the right time to beat first baseman Jeff Conine’s throw home after Figgins was caught in a rundown between first and second.

Izturis then sparked a two-run rally in the fifth by driving a double over the head of left fielder David Newhan, who made diving catches to rob Guerrero of a hit in the third and Casey Kotchman of extra bases in the fourth. Kennedy doubled to left for a run, and Guerrero’s RBI single made it 4-1.

Conine’s solo home run in the fifth pulled Baltimore within 4-2, but Guerrero countered with a solo shot to center off reliever Sendy Rleal in the seventh, giving him his 28th career multiple-homer game.

After Izturis’ squeeze bunt and Figgins’ homer in the eighth, Angel Manager Mike Scioscia pulled several starters and inserted DH Juan Rivera in right, which meant Lackey hit third for half an inning.

“Man, I haven’t hit third since JuCo,” Lackey said in reference to his days as a first baseman/pitcher at Grayson County College in Denison, Texas.

Lackey did not get to hit, but with the way Sunday’s game went, it would have been fitting if the pitcher lugged some lumber to the plate.

“Everything worked out well,” Lackey said. “We swung the bats well, I pitched well, and we needed a win.... This is a long trip, and we already lost the first two games. We didn’t want to get this thing rolling in the wrong direction.”