Angels roll but can’t shake Seattle

The Angels completed a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 6-2 victory Sunday, improving to 69-47, a season-high 22 games over .500, and 40-17 in Angel Stadium, the best home record in the major leagues.

And still, they can’t shake the Seattle Mariners.

Jered Weaver gave up two runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking none, to improve to 8-5 and win for the second time in eight starts. He departed to a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 43,911.

But Seattle right-hander Jeff Weaver, Jered’s older brother, threw a five-hit shutout against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday to keep the Mariners within 3 1/2 games -- and striking distance -- of the Angels in the American League West.

While the Mariners return to Safeco Field, where they are 37-22, to begin a six-game homestand against Minnesota and Chicago tonight, the Angels leave today for a seven-game trip to Toronto and Boston, where they are a combined 37-71 since 1996. The Angels are 29-30 on the road this season.

“The mind-set and the momentum we have now,” said shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who had three hits Sunday, “it’s important for us to go on the road with that.”

Just as important: Don’t look back, because even though the Angels have had sole possession of first place since May 9, a span of 96 days, objects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear. The Angels and Mariners have seven more games against each other.

“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “You’ve got to earn it. Seattle is a terrific club, and they’re playing well. To get through our division, you have to be ready for the challenge.”

It’s hard to imagine the Angels, with their lack of power and numerous injuries, having a better record, especially at home. But Chone Figgins, whose two-run home run in the sixth inning broke open a 3-1 game, said the players are not frustrated by their inability to bury the Mariners.

“It’s baseball, you’re playing against major league teams, and there’s going to be competition, always,” Figgins said. “We can’t take anyone for granted. We have to pitch and play defense and continue to get runners on and move them around. If we play that way, we’re going to have a good chance of winning.”

Jered Weaver set the tone Sunday, giving up two singles through five innings and throwing only 93 pitches before handing the ball and a 5-1 lead to Justin Speier in the eighth.

“I was focused on getting outs in the first three pitches,” Weaver said. “I had gotten away from that in my last four or five starts.”

The Angels staked Weaver to a 3-0 lead with a run in the second, on Garret Anderson’s double and Casey Kotchman’s run-scoring single, and two in the fifth, when Cabrera followed singles by Reggie Willits and Figgins with a run-scoring double and Anderson hit a run-scoring fielder’s choice.

Alexi Casilla singled in the sixth, stole second and third, and scored on Jason Bartlett’s sacrifice fly to pull Minnesota to within 3-1, but Willits walked with two out in the sixth and Figgins hit a towering fly that cleared the short fence in the right-field corner for his second homer of the season and a 5-1 lead.

It was the fourth home run in five games by a 5-foot-8 Angel. Diminutive second baseman Maicer Izturis had the first three.

“We don’t try to hit home runs,” Figgins said. “But sometimes small guys hit line drives a little too high in the right part of the stadium.”

Weaver wasn’t happy about being pulled after Casilla’s one-out single in the eighth, but Speier struck out Jason Tyner, gave up a run-scoring triple to Bartlett, and struck out Joe Mauer, who’d singled and doubled in two previous at-bats, to end the inning. Speier retired the side in order in the ninth.

Catcher Jeff Mathis hit his first homer of the season in the eighth, and the Angels were on their way to another home win.

“Maybe we eat better, we get to sleep in our own beds, the crowd gives us a boost,” Figgins said, trying to explain why the Angels have played so well at home. “I don’t know what it is.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com