Angels show some glaring weaknesses

The Angels reached the midway point of the season Saturday with a 50-31 record, matching their best 81-game start in franchise history, a deep roster that has absorbed numerous injuries, a balanced offense that has exceeded expectations, an effective rotation and a stout back-of-the-bullpen relief corps.

A complete product, they are not.

A 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards on Saturday night exposed the team’s vulnerability to soft-tossing left-handers and the soft underbelly of its bullpen, most notably struggling right-hander Hector Carrasco, a veteran right-hander who is in danger of losing his job.

Orioles left-hander Brian Burres beat the Angels for the second time in a month, mixing his 88-mph fastball with a variety of breaking balls and off-speed pitches while giving up three runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings. Burres gave up one run and three hits in five innings of a 6-2 victory in Angel Stadium on May 31.

And Carrasco, who relieved Bartolo Colon to start the seventh, gave up a three-run home run to Ramon Hernandez that stretched a 3-2 Orioles lead to 6-2. Had Carrasco, who has given up 17 earned runs and six homers in his last 16 2/3 innings, held the score, Vladimir Guerrero’s run-scoring double in the eighth would have tied it.

“We have a good team, and I’m not doing my job,” said Carrasco, a key part of the bullpen in 2006, when he went 7-3 with a 3.41 earned-run average in 56 games. “I don’t know what’s happening. It makes no sense. I had a good spring training. To me, there’s no reason, but I blame myself.”

Mired in a five-week slump, Carrasco’s ERA jumped from 5.11 on May 23 to 6.57 on Saturday. A reliable seventh-inning reliever in 2006, Carrasco has been passed on the depth chart by Dustin Moseley and Chris Bootcheck.

Veteran left-hander Darren Oliver was better in June, lowering his ERA from 7.98 on May 31 to 6.26 with his scoreless ninth Saturday, but he and Carrasco have underachieved.

“Hector and Darren are guys we’re counting on,” said Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team’s lead in the American League West over Seattle was reduced to four games. “We need them to get their games going, because we can’t get down to a two- or three-man bullpen.”

Sporadic work has led to erratic results for Carrasco, who could be designated for assignment when Justin Speier returns from an intestinal infection that has sidelined him since April 30.

“I don’t like it when I don’t pitch for five or six days ... but I don’t blame the manager,” Carrasco said. “My release point isn’t right. My sinker isn’t moving much. I have to do my job when I get the ball.”

And the hitters need to do a better job against crafty left-handers.

The Angels have had trouble in the past with pitchers such as Jamie Moyer, Kenny Rogers and Ted Lilly, and Wednesday in Angel Stadium, Kansas City left-hander Jorge De La Rosa, a near mirror image of Burres, threw six shutout innings in a 1-0 victory by the Royals.

“He mixed it up and got guys to swing at his pitches,” Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick said of Burres. “Sometimes as hitters, we get ourselves out. Not that he didn’t do a good job; he did. He got us out in some key situations.”

None bigger than in the sixth. Chone Figgins, who is batting .538 (28 for 52) in his last 12 games, hit a run-scoring triple, and Orlando Cabrera hit a run-scoring double to pull the Angels within 3-2.

Guerrero walked, and both runners advanced on a groundout, but Burres struck out Robb Quinlan on a breaking ball to end the inning. Burres left in the eighth, and Paul Shuey threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his first save in nearly five years.

“Every rotation has the right-handers who throw hard, but those crafty lefties, you’ve got to be on your game against them,” Kendrick said. “You have to work harder to battle and be more focused.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com