Angels are left longing after blast by Hafner

They don’t estimate the distance of home runs in Miller Park, but it might not be a stretch to say Travis Hafner’s three-run shot off Angels reliever Scot Shields in the eighth inning Thursday had a layover in Chicago before heading on to Cleveland.

Shields, struggling to find his release point, walked two batters to open the eighth and fell behind the Indians’ powerful designated hitter before grooving a fastball that Hafner crushed well beyond the right-center field wall, erasing a one-run deficit and lifting Cleveland to a 4-2 victory over the Angels before a crowd of 17,090.

“He hit it a long way,” said Shields, who did not allow a run in 6 1/3 innings of his first six games this season. “That’s what makes him one of the league’s best hitters. When you make a mistake, rarely does he not make you pay.”

The Angels took advantage of two Indians errors in the top of the eighth to take a 2-1 lead, and Shields took the bullpen baton from right-hander Justin Speier, who escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the seventh to preserve a 1-1 tie.

Several of Shields’ pitches to Grady Sizemore, who bats left-handed, were high and away, and he walked on a full-count pitch. Shields struggled to find the strike zone against Trot Nixon as well, walking him on a 3-and-1 pitch.

The first pitch to left-handed hitting Hafner, who has averaged 34 home runs and 111 runs batted in during the last three seasons, was up and away.

“I couldn’t find my release point and wasn’t able to throw strikes,” Shields said. “With this lineup, especially with the No. 3 hitter, walking the first two guys is not a position you want to be in. I fell behind Travis, and you don’t want to go 2-0 and load the bases.

“I had to challenge him and hope he’d miss, but he doesn’t miss often.”

Hafner, 29, was nicknamed “Pronk” by a minor league coach who considered him part project, part donkey. At 6 feet 3 and 240 pounds, he is as strong as a mule. That might was evident on a fastball Shields said “was right down the middle,” as Hafner, who didn’t hit a homer all spring, drove it at least 450 feet to right-center.

“That’s what you play the game for, to be up there in that situation,” Hafner said. “To come through like that feels really good.”

The Angels felt pretty good about things until the bottom of the eighth, even though they managed only one run and six hits in seven innings off crafty left-hander Jeremy Sowers and had one hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Dustin Moseley, who will be replaced in the rotation by Jered Weaver next week, gave the Angels six strong innings, allowing one run and five hits, including Sizemore’s sixth-inning solo homer.

Orlando Cabrera doubled and scored on Vladimir Guerrero’s bloop single in the sixth, and Speier bailed out Moseley in the seventh.

With runners on second and third and one out, Speier struck out Ryan Garko and got Kelly Shoppach to fly to right, lowering the Angels bullpen ERA to 1.44 (four earned runs in 25 innings) this season.

Cabrera singled and scored the eventual go-ahead run on Indians reliever Roberto Hernandez’s error in the eighth, but it all unraveled when the usually reliable Shields entered. When he left, that bullpen ERA stood at 2.42.

“Scot backed himself into a corner, to say the least,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He got a little out of rhythm and walked two guys. He missed on the first pitch to Travis, and when you have to get the ball into a zone and you don’t quite get it there in a hitter’s count against a dangerous hitter, you can see what happens.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com