Matthews delivers for Angels

Gary Matthews Jr. knocked in four runs with his bat and took one run away with his glove Tuesday night. That, as they say in hockey, is a good plus/minus rating.

The Angels center fielder, hardly a stay-at-home defenseman, glided to the wall in the fourth inning, timed his jump perfectly and caught Coco Crisp’s drive about a foot above the fence, a highlight-reel play executed with such precision and ease it almost seemed routine.

Matthews then keyed a five-run fifth inning with a two-run single, hit a run-scoring double in the sixth and capped his night with a solo home run in the eighth to lead the Angels to a 10-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox in front of a sellout crowd of 44,177 in Angel Stadium.

“Gary spoils you because he has so much range, he’ll go up and take a home run from a guy and make it look easy,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Certainly, that’s not an easy play. Every time he saves a run, we say, ‘Hey, that’s an RBI.’ The runs he’s saved on defense combined with what he is doing offensively, you see why he is an important player this year. He’s been big in our lineup.”

The Angels’ second consecutive win over the team with baseball’s best record, a victory that featured 14 hits, 22 at-bats (and seven hits) with runners in scoring position and 2 2/3 scoreless relief innings by Chris Bootcheck, put the Angels in position for a rare three-game sweep of the Red Sox -- their last such sweep came July 31-Aug. 2, 2001, in Fenway Park.

It also enabled the Angels to maintain their four-game lead over second-place Seattle in the American League West and trimmed Boston’s lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East to five games, their smallest margin since May 2.

Joe Saunders improved to 6-0 despite giving up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

For that, the left-hander can thank the Angels’ five-run fifth inning, in which they emptied their offensive playbook, throwing just about everything they had -- except the home run, of course -- at the Red Sox, knocking starter Tim Wakefield out of the game and turning a 4-2 deficit into a 7-4 lead.

There was a double, three singles, two walks, a stolen base, a suicide squeeze, a successful contact play, the Angels scoring on a ground ball with the infield in, and a Boston error, to boot.

The Red Sox had pounded Saunders for three runs in the fifth inning, with Doug Mirabelli’s two-run home run and Kevin Youkilis’ run-scoring double giving them a 4-2 lead.

But Chone Figgins led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and stole second. Orlando Cabrera doubled to right-center field for a run. Vladimir Guerrero walked and Garret Anderson reached on shortstop Julio Lugo’s fielding error to load the bases.

The switch-hitting Matthews, batting from the right side against Wakefield, the knuckleball-throwing right-hander, stroked a two-run single to left field to give the Angels a 5-4 lead. Casey Kotchman grounded to first, advancing the runners to second and third.

The Red Sox brought their infield in, and Maicer Izturis, who had a run-scoring single in the second inning, chopped a grounder to second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

Anderson broke from third on contact and when Pedroia threw high to the plate, it gave Anderson just enough time to slide under Mirabelli’s tag for a 6-4 lead.

Jeff Mathis, who hit a run-scoring double in the fourth inning, followed with a suicide-squeeze to drive in Matthews for a 7-4 lead.

Doubles by Guerrero, Matthews and Kotchman created two runs in the sixth, and Matthews hit his 14th home run of the season -- and fourth in eight games -- in the eighth inning to put an exclamation mark on the victory.

“There’s ups and downs in a season -- you just want to make adjustments,” said Matthews, whose average fell to .269 on July 30, his lowest mark since April 24. “It’s different hitting down in the order. You have to be more patient, and I’m not always the most patient hitter.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com