Colon hurting; so are Angels

Bartolo Colon’s spiraling season finally may have hit rock bottom.

The former Cy Young Award winner left the Angels’ 12-6 loss to the Oakland Athletics after one inning because of right elbow irritation Monday night at Angel Stadium and the club announced that he would be examined today by Dr. Lewis Yocum, the team orthopedist.

Colon (6-6) gave up four runs and four hits in the first inning of a defeat that prevented the Angels from increasing their American League West lead over Seattle, which lost to Texas and remained two games back.

His fastball was clocked in the 88-to-91-mph range. In his heyday, he routinely hit the upper 90s.

“We’re concerned,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He had a little tough time turning it loose. It was bothering him warming up a little bit, but he thought it might loosen up.

“He wanted to give it every chance to loosen up and pitch and it didn’t go that direction. In between innings, it was bothering him enough where he wasn’t going to be able to get the ball where he wanted and execute pitches and he needed to come out.”

It is the latest in a series of setbacks over the last year for Colon, 34, the 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner. He missed last August and September because of a partial tear of his rotator cuff and opted against having surgery to repair the injury. He was sharp when he returned April 21, winning his first five decisions and posting a 3.69 earned-run average before things went awry.

After Monday’s outing, he is 1-6 with a 9.26 ERA in 10 starts since May 23. He has given up six or more earned runs four times during that stretch and missed a scheduled start June 2 because of tendinitis in his right triceps.

Monday’s injury is different from that one, Scioscia said, and he hinted that it might require a stint on the disabled list beginning today.

“We had a lot of pitchers throw a lot of pitches [Monday night] so we’ll have some discussions ... to see what we’re going to do to make sure we have enough arms for [tonight],” he said.

Colon made it to the seventh inning or beyond in four of his first six starts but had not made it to the seventh in any of his last nine. Monday marked only the fourth time in his 11-year career that he failed to make it to the second inning. The last time occurred nearly one year ago, July 26, 2006, his final start before discovering the season-ending shoulder injury.

“Right now, it’s something we need to look at and maybe take a step back and see what we’re dealing with,” Scioscia said. “Bart’s been a horse for so long and he started off this year great and hopefully he’ll be able to get back in that form.”

Colon’s replacement in a rotation already taxed by the absence of Ervin Santana, who was demoted to triple A last week, might be Dustin Moseley, who relieved Colon on Monday night in what may have been an audition for the spot.

But Moseley didn’t fare much better, giving up five runs and five hits in his 2 2/3 innings and leaving with the A’s leading, 9-2, after designated hitter Mike Piazza, activated from the disabled list Friday, hit a three-run home run in the fourth.

It was the second home run of the season and first since May 2 for Piazza, who had been out since May 2 because of a shoulder injury. He had four runs batted in Monday.

Despite the early pitching woes, the Angels had a chance to make a game of it. Trailing, 9-2, entering the bottom of the fourth, they scored twice to make it 9-4 and had the bases loaded with none out.

But Oakland starter Chad Gaudin struck out Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson before Gary Matthews Jr. drew a walk to make it 9-5. That ended the night for Gaudin, who threw 43 pitches and walked four batters in the fourth. Reliever Kiko Calero got Casey Kotchman to ground out to end the threat.

peter.yoon@latimes.com