Offensive woes persist for Angels

Orlando Cabrera was asked Saturday what he thought of the Angels’ offense over the last week, and his answer lasted about as long as one of his team’s rallies.

“Awful,” he said.

And that was before the Angels mustered only five hits and were shut out by the Boston Red Sox, 8-0, in Fenway Park, the Angels’ fifth loss in six games after a 5-1 start.

Granted, that was no slouch on the mound for Boston. Curt Schilling, the team’s ace, gave up four hits, struck out four and walked one in eight innings for his 209th victory, improving to 11-1 with a 2.75 earned run average in his last 16 starts in Fenway, dating to Oct. 2, 2005.

But still, the Angels didn’t have many quality at-bats against Schilling, let alone hits. They made five outs on first-pitch swings, and six more on second-pitch swings. Through six innings, Schilling threw only 64 pitches, fewer than the 72 Angels starter Hector Carrasco threw in three innings.

The Angels, who have lost 14 of their last 19 games in Fenway, put the leadoff man on base in only two of nine innings. Leadoff batter Gary Matthews Jr. failed to reach base to open two of those innings and has not reached base in his last three games, going hitless in 12 at-bats, his average falling to .227.

“I know if I get on base consistently, the offense runs smoother -- it’s a lot easier to score runs when the leadoff guy gets on,” Matthews said. “Sooner or later, the law of averages is going to swing in our favor.”

Matthews also had a tough day in the field, failing to catch Jason Varitek’s wicked, knuckling line drive in the third inning for an error that enabled the Red Sox to score their first two runs.

Had Matthews made the catch -- the ball hit the heel of his glove and fell to the ground -- Carrasco, making a spot start for injured Kelvim Escobar, would have escaped his second straight bases-loaded jam.

“We botched a ball in center field,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “As much as they were getting guys on base, we had a chance to get through three innings with the score tied.”

The way the Red Sox can hit -- they pounded relievers Chris Bootcheck and Greg Jones for five runs in their last three innings, including David Ortiz’s three-run homer in the eighth -- and the way the Angels are hitting, Matthews’ error was hardly the difference in the game.

The Angels are batting .233 with 16 runs in their last seven games, an average of 2.3 a game. They have gone seven games without a home run, a span of 64 innings. They are batting .164 with runners in scoring position during the stretch and .214 with runners in scoring position for the season.

“Right now, some guys are trying to make adjustments, and some are in a funk,” Scioscia said. “We’re a better offensive team than we’ve been the last four or five games.... And when you’re not scoring runs, the pressure on your pitching staff starts to mount.”

This was a recurring theme for the Angels over the last two seasons, when they struggled to score enough runs to support a usually reliable pitching staff.

When the Angels hit .309 with 25 runs and six home runs in their first five games this season, they had the look of an improved, better-balanced offensive club.

“The first few games in Anaheim, we showed we could hit,” Cabrera said. “It’s going to happen. Hopefully, we can hit the whole year, but we know that’s not going to happen. Nobody does that. We have a good team. We have a lot of expectations, and I think we’re going to have a great offensive year.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com