Izturis makes it easy for the Angels

Embarrassed by the table scraps they left Kelvim Escobar in his three previous starts, the Angels set out a veritable feast for the right-hander Friday night.

They hit double figures in runs, four of them coming on Maicer Izturis’ game-breaking grand slam in the sixth inning, for a 10-1 victory over Minnesota in Angel Stadium, increasing their American League West lead over Seattle to 3 1/2 games.

That’s six more runs than the Angels scored in Escobar’s last three starts combined, a pair of losses to Oakland and a loss to Seattle, in which Escobar gave up only six earned runs and 19 hits in 22 innings.

But this time, another quality start -- Escobar gave up one run and five hits in six innings and has given up three earned runs or fewer in 19 of 22 starts this season -- sent Escobar (12-6) to the winner’s circle for the first time since July 19, even though he walked five and said he didn’t have his best stuff.

“I know the last few games I pitched well and didn’t get much support, but that happens,” Escobar said. “I never complain. I know they’re trying to do their best. That’s the way the game goes sometimes.”

The Twins pulled to within 2-1 in the top of the sixth on Rondell White’s two-out, run-scoring single, but the Angels loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth against Twins starter Scott Baker when Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews Jr. singled and Casey Kotchman walked.

Up stepped Izturis, the 5-foot-8, 165-pound second baseman whose tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning Monday night keyed a 4-2 victory over Boston.

Baker left an 0-and-1 fastball up, and Izturis smacked it into the right-field seats for the first grand slam of his career and the first by an Angels second baseman since Alfredo Amezaga’s slam on Oct. 1, 2004, at Oakland. It was Izturis’ fourth homer of the season.

“You know what? That’s not my game,” Izturis said through an interpreter. “I know I’ve hit a couple of big home runs this homestand, but that’s the job of the big guys. I’ll take them, but I don’t want to get too enamored with them, because then my swing gets out of whack. . . . Even in batting practice, I don’t hit a lot of home runs.”

The Angels added four runs against three Twins relievers in the seventh, batting around for the second straight inning, giving them 10 runs or more in five of their last seven home games. Kotchman, Jeff Mathis and Reggie Willits each had run-scoring singles, and Chone Figgins capped the rally with a sacrifice fly.

“When people talk about our team, they’re always talking about our pitching and Vladdy,” Escobar said, referring to slugger Vladimir Guerrero. “It was great to see them score so many runs tonight.”

After Escobar escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the third by getting Michael Cuddyer to fly to deep center, the Angels scored twice in the bottom of the third, when Willits walked, Figgins singled and Orlando Cabrera hit a run-scoring single, advancing Figgins to third. Figgins scored on Guerrero’s double-play grounder.

Escobar, who walked a career-high seven in his last start, gave up a two-out infield single in the sixth to Torii Hunter, whose dribbler down the third-base line stopped in fair territory, and walked Jason Kubel.

White, a career .391 hitter (nine for 23) against Escobar entering the game, lined a run-scoring single to left to make it 2-1, and Escobar walked No. 9 hitter Nick Punto to load the bases. But Escobar caught leadoff batter Alexi Casilla looking at a 94-mph fastball on the inside corner for strike three, ending the inning.

“He’s a tough out -- he puts the ball in play, and he can fly,” Escobar said of Casilla, acquired from the Angels for reliever J.C. Romero before the 2006 season. “I got ahead with off-speed pitches and finished him up hard inside. That was the game right there. That was huge.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com