A Wasteful Team Isn’t Left Wanting

The Angels amassed 15 hits Sunday and still had to sweat out a 5-3 victory, surviving ninth-inning home runs by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi to improve to 53-50 against the Yankees, and 28-22 in the Bronx, since 1996.

“Sometimes we take for granted that our bullpen is so good they’re going to keep the lead,” second baseman Adam Kennedy said. “But this game could have gotten ugly.

“Those extra runs” the Angels scored in the fifth and sixth innings “definitely come into play against the Yankees.”

Chien-Ming Wang took a 13-4 record and 3.69 earned-run average into Sunday’s start, and the right-hander with the power sinker had been practically untouchable early in games, giving up three first-inning runs in 24 starts.

But the Angels roughed up Wang for three runs in the first Sunday, bunching six hits in a rally that was sparked by Chone Figgins’ sixth home run, the fifth time in his career that he has led off a game with a homer.

Rodriguez couldn’t handle Howie Kendrick’s chopper to third, a play that was generously ruled a hit. Orlando Cabrera singled, and Kendrick was out at home trying to score on Vladimir Guerrero’s dribbler to the mound.

Juan Rivera and Kennedy hit run-scoring singles for a 3-0 lead, and Robb Quinlan’s infield single loaded the bases, but Wang got Curtis Pride to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The Angels added runs in the fifth (Rivera RBI single) and sixth (Kendrick RBI single) innings, but most of the afternoon was filled with frustration.

Rivera grounded into a double play after Cabrera and Guerrero opened the third with singles. Kennedy lined out to first with runners on first and third to end the fifth. Cabrera struck out and Guerrero flied to center with the bases loaded to end the sixth, and Cabrera struck out with runners on first and third to end the eighth.

“You know the Yankees are going to come back,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We had more chances to score, and those situations can come back to haunt you, but our pitching was outstanding, and they had enough of a cushion that it didn’t come back to haunt us.”

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With left fielder Garret Anderson (lower-back tightness) missing his second straight game and doubtful for tonight, and third baseman Maicer Izturis (tight right hamstring) sidelined, the Angels bolstered their bench by recalling outfielder Reggie Willits from triple-A Salt Lake after the game and optioning reliever Chris Bootcheck to Salt Lake.

Ervin Santana, knocked out of Thursday’s game by a first-inning line drive to his left knee, threw a light bullpen session and took fielding practice and is scheduled to make his next start Tuesday in Texas.

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Scioscia didn’t feel compelled to speak to Guerrero about Saturday’s baserunning gaffes, when Guerrero was thrown out at third to end the first inning and picked off second with runners on second and third to end the sixth inning in the Angels’ 5-2 loss.

“If you’re going to be aggressive, you’re going to run into some ugly outs,” Scioscia said. “You hope to minimize those, but it comes with the package. We’re going to stay aggressive. The alternative is a station-to-station game that wouldn’t maximize our offense and could grind our offense to a halt.”