Angels Pound Indians

It was as if the Angels lugged a battering ram to the plate during the first five innings Monday night, so lethal was their lumber in a 10-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Angel Stadium.

A team that is supposedly one booming bat short of championship caliber -- rumors continue to swirl about the Angels’ acquiring Miguel Tejada, Bobby Abreu, Carlos Lee or Alfonso Soriano -- pounded out 17 hits, 15 of them in the first five innings, to win for the 12th time in 13 games.

With the three other American League West teams losing, the Angels, who were seven games out of first place June 30, moved into second place, half a game behind Oakland.

The Angels have won a season-high seven games in a row, and their 12-1 mark in July matches the best 13-game start of a month in club history; the Angels were 13-1 to start September 2002.

“As much as we told you guys earlier in the year that we weren’t panicking, we believed it,” Angels second baseman Adam Kennedy said. “And now it’s showing.”

The rotation has received most of the credit for fueling the Angels’ hot streak, and rightfully so -- before Dustin Moseley was roughed up for four runs and 10 hits in five innings in his big league debut Monday, Angels starters were 10-0 with a 1.62 earned-run average and three shutouts in 12 games.

But the offense hasn’t been too shabby either, batting .322 (146 for 453) with 22 home runs, 22 doubles, 47 walks and only 67 strikeouts in the last 13 games, raising the team batting average from .255 on June 30 to .265 on Monday night. They scored 86 runs in that span, an average of 6.6 a game.

Third baseman Maicer Izturis had a career-high four hits, including a double and a run-scoring single, and three runs. Vladimir Guerrero had three hits and two runs batted in, four others -- Chone Figgins, Garret Anderson, Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales -- each had two hits, and Orlando Cabrera and Anderson each hit two-run home runs.

“The line keeps moving,” Kennedy said. “We’re getting a lot of baserunners, applying a lot of pressure, and it wears on teams. A lot of guys are having good at-bats, and Vladdy is back on track. The offense is going nicely. It’s fun to play when you have that going.”

The Angels counterpunched like a heavyweight champion. After the Indians scored in the first inning, the Angels struck for three runs in the first, Anderson capping the rally by lining a shot over the short right-field wall for his eighth home run and first since June 17.

Cleveland scored in the third, but the Angels answered in their half of the inning with a two-out rally that featured Rivera’s run-scoring double and Morales’ run-scoring single.

Jason Michaels’ two-run homer against Moseley, who was sent back to triple-A Salt Lake after the game to clear roster room for tonight’s starter, Joe Saunders, cut the Indians’ deficit to 5-4, but Cabrera’s two-run homer against starter Jake Westbrook gave the Angels a 7-4 cushion in the fourth inning.

Even when the Indians scored a rather meaningless run in the eighth, the Angels countered with two in the bottom of the inning, on run-scoring singles by Izturis and Guerrero, to pull away.

“We had good pitching earlier in the year and weren’t able to capitalize on it because the offense was not performing,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Now, the offense is supporting the pitching, and that’s translating into wins. Guys like Rivera, Izzy and Mike Napoli have stepped up, and it’s brought a nice look to the offense.”

Moseley, filling in for the injured Jered Weaver, wore his red socks high and featured an old-school delivery that bore a slight resemblance to that of Paul Byrd, the ex-Angel who will pitch for the Indians on Wednesday.

He wasn’t quite as effective as Byrd was in Anaheim -- Moseley gave up all 10 hits in four innings -- but the right-hander, who bent but didn’t completely break, retired the side in order in the fifth before being replaced by Hector Carrasco and was rewarded with his first big league win.