Izturis has gone power mad

Dynamite comes in small packages. So does Maicer Izturis, the diminutive second baseman whose suddenly explosive bat carried the Angels to another victory, this one an improbable 4-3, come-from-behind win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night.

One night after hitting the first grand slam of his career, the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Izturis took his first big league curtain call, prompted by the two-run home run he hit against one of baseball’s best setup men to turn a 2-1 eighth-inning deficit into a 3-2 lead at Angel Stadium.

“I’ve never experienced a feeling like that before,” Izturis said through an interpreter. “It’s almost like being on a cloud.”

Izturis’ shot against Twins reliever Pat Neshek, his fifth homer of the season and third game-altering home run of this homestand, turned potential hard-luck loser John Lackey into a 15-game winner.

Lackey gave up two runs and 10 hits in eight innings to improve to 15-6, joining Boston right-hander Josh Beckett as the major leagues’ only 15-game winners.

Francisco Rodriguez gave up an unearned run in the ninth while recording his 29th save, and the Angels maintained a 3 1/2 -game lead over Seattle in the American League West. The Twins, who boast one of baseball’s best bullpens, fell to 48-3 when leading after seven innings.

All because one of the game’s strongest proponents of little ball, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, scrapped the bunt in a situation that cried out for a sacrifice.

Twins right-hander Carlos Silva blanked the Angels on two hits through seven innings and handed a 2-0 lead to Neshek, the sidewinding right-hander who entered with a 6-1 record and 1.98 earned-run average in 56 games.

Gary Matthews Jr. led off the eighth with a grounder that rookie second baseman Alexi Casilla booted for an error. Casey Kotchman doubled off the right-center-field wall, scoring Matthews to make it 2-1.

Up stepped Izturis, whose solo homer broke a seventh-inning tie in Monday’s 4-2 win over Boston, and whose sixth-inning grand slam broke open a one-run game in a 10-1 win over Minnesota on Friday.

Scioscia called for a bunt, but when the Twins huddled on the mound to discuss bunt defense, Scioscia called Izturis back to the on-deck circle.

“I told Izzy the bunt was off, get a pitch you can pull, and if you don’t get a hit, you’ll have a chance to move Kotchman to third base,” Scioscia said. “They were pinching for a bunt. When you evaluate where [the defense was] playing, there were holes open in the infield. He found a hole a lot deeper than we imagined.”

That hole was in the seats above the wall in right-center, where Izturis deposited a 1-and-0 fastball.

“I wanted to get a good swing in, move the guy over, and I just connected right,” Izturis said. “It was a fastball, right where my swing was going.”

Said Neshek: “That surprised me. I thought he’d be bunting there.”

The homer improved Izturis’ average with runners in scoring position this season to .407 (22 for 54).

Pressure? What pressure?

“The pressure in Venezuela, what I hear in the stands, doesn’t compare to here,” said Izturis, who plays every winter in his native country. “I feel more pressure in Venezuela, because the fans are on top of you, and you understand what they’re saying.”

What are they saying?

“Words that you cannot quote here,” Izturis said. “You really have to be deaf to do your job there.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com