Angels just waste away in 6-2 loss

This was the wrong kind of continuity from an offense that had propelled the Angels to the second-best home record in the major leagues and a relatively comfortable lead in the American League West.

The Angels hitters constantly came up short Thursday night during a 6-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Angel Stadium, leaving 11 men on base and going three for 19 with runners in scoring position.

All the Angels could muster from multiple-baserunner opportunities in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings was one run off Orioles starter Brian Burres and four relievers.

They had runners on first and second with two out in the fourth and came up empty. They had two on with one out in the fifth and sixth and did not score. They had two on with nobody out in the ninth and failed to bring anybody home.

Only when they put two on with nobody out in the seventh could the Angels break through, and for only one run on Vladimir Guerrero’s single to shallow center. Guerrero also drove in the Angels’ other run with a first-inning double.

The scant support wasn’t enough for starter Kelvim Escobar, who wasn’t his usual stingy self while pitching at Angel Stadium.

The right-hander, who had entered the game second in the American League with a 1.76 earned-run average at home, allowed nine hits and five runs, needing 109 pitches to get through eight innings even though the defense turned four double plays behind him.

But the defense couldn’t make the play it needed to make in the fifth inning with the score tied at 1-1 and left fielder Reggie Willits and center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. converging on Ramon Hernandez’s drive to deep left-center with nobody out and a runner on first. The outfielders both extended their gloves but couldn’t make the catch, the ball caroming off Willits’ glove for a double that put runners on second and third.

“When it was initially hit, I went after it like it was my ball,” said Willits, who planned to sit down with Matthews to talk about the play. “I called for it. He may not have heard me, or he may have called me off and I didn’t hear him. At the last second I saw him and took my eye off the ball.”

Escobar struck out Corey Patterson for the first out, but Brian Roberts stroked a run-scoring single to left and Nick Markakis had Willits and Matthews on the run again with a two-run double to left-center that gave the Orioles a 4-1 lead.

“I had some tough breaks, but hey hit some good pitches,” said Escobar, who walked four, struck out three and had his 21-inning scoreless streak at home snapped in the first inning. “That’s the way it goes.”

The Angels ran themselves out of two threats, the first in the fourth inning when Mike Napoli was thrown out on the back end of a double-steal attempt. In the seventh, Willits was thrown out at third on another double-steal attempt gone awry.

“You’re trying to get into a better offensive situation by doing that, and we just didn’t get it done tonight,” said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team holds a 4 1/2 -game lead over Seattle in the West.

Chone Figgins, back in the starting lineup at third base after two days off, went three for four with two stolen bases. He also made a nice defensive play in the third inning, fielding a grounder off the bat of Miguel Tejada near the third-base line and throwing to first base for the out.

ben.bolch@latimes.com