Lead gets away from Santana, Angels

Ervin Santana has had better starts, and as anyone who has watched the enigmatic right-hander this season knows, he has had worse starts. Far worse.

But mediocrity on the mound doesn’t usually cut it in the big leagues, at least not without massive run support, and try as Vladimir Guerrero might, the Angels slugger could not offset Santana’s shaky start in a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Angel Stadium on Thursday night.

Guerrero hit two home runs, the 32nd multi-homer game of his career, and drove in three runs, but Santana gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings, as the Angels had their American League West lead over Seattle trimmed to one game, their smallest margin since July 21.

Santana, who was demoted to triple-A Salt Lake with a 5-11 record and 6.22 earned-run average on July 18, earned Thursday’s start with his 6 1/3 -inning, one-run, four-hit effort last Friday, the day he was recalled for the Angels’ doubleheader in Fenway Park.

He looked sharp through three innings Thursday, blanking Toronto on one hit and catching three Blue Jays looking at third strikes, but he was nicked for two runs in the fourth and three more runs after retiring the first two batters of the fifth.

“It just didn’t look like Ervin had the same stuff, and they took advantage of it,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Three runs with two outs . . . you have to finish innings off. Ervin didn’t quite look the same [as he did against Boston]. He battled, he made some good pitches, but we just didn’t see the same life on the ball. . . . It wasn’t that he was awful. He just couldn’t put some guys away.”

Santana took a 3-0 lead into the fourth thanks to some aggressive Angels baserunning in the first and a Guerrero moon shot in the third.

Three times in the first inning, the Angels went from first to third on singles -- they’ve now done it a major league-leading 105 times this season -- and Guerrero’s run-scoring groundout and Maicer Izturis’ RBI single game them a 2-0 lead.

With one out in the third, Guerrero crushed a 1-and-0 pitch by Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch far over the center-field wall for his 20th home run of the season, his first homer in 19 games and his first at home since June 23 against Pittsburgh.

But Litsch quieted the Angels after Guerrero’s homer -- they managed two singles until Guerrero’s leadoff homer to right-center off reliever Casey Janssen in the eighth and missed a chance to break the game open when Orlando Cabrera struck out with the bases loaded to end the fourth -- while Toronto began to measure Santana.

Lyle Overbay led off the fourth with a walk and scored on Vernon Wells’ double to right-center, and Wells scored on Frank Thomas’ single to pull Toronto within 3-2.

Santana got two quick outs in the fifth, but Reed Johnson singled, Overbay doubled, and Matt Stairs roped a two-run double to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead. Stairs advanced on a wild pitch and scored on catcher Ryan Budde’s throwing error to make it 5-3. Santana was pulled after a scoreless sixth.

“They adjusted to me more than I did to them -- I’m going to give them all the credit,” Santana said through an interpreter. “I felt about the same. My confidence was as high as it’s been in a long time. I gave everything I had.”

Scioscia saw at least some cause for optimism.

“There’s two sides to tonight,” he said. “Ervin didn’t have his best stuff, but he kept us in the game. He was really a pitch or two away from a good start.

“Any time you don’t pick up a win, you’re disappointed, but you have to look at the big picture. If Ervin can get that stuff he pitched with in Boston and keep it here down the stretch, it’s going to be big for us.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com