Escobar snags an easy victory

There was a certain poignancy as Kelvim Escobar walked off the mound in the eighth inning Saturday, the crescendo of the crowd’s ovation acknowledging his masterful performance against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Escobar had just snared a wicked ankle-high line drive, trotted most of the way to first base and flipped the ball to Kendry Morales for an inning-ending double-play.

Escobar had survived a bases-loaded jam, his most difficult situation of the night, and the Angels were home free in a 10-1 victory at Angel Stadium.

At the time of Escobar’s play, it was 6-1. Had Chris Duffy’s drive gone through, the Pirates would have scored two runs and had the tying run at the plate.

The Angels, who had scored five runs in the second inning, scored four in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away, the big blow being Vladimir Guerrero’s two-run homer.

With the victory, the Angels (48-27) stretched their lead to eight games over Oakland and Seattle in the American League West, and also gave the club the most victories in baseball, one more than Boston.

The Angels, who had 18 hits Friday in an 11-inning, 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh, had 17 hits Saturday against Ian Snell (6-5) and Tony Armas.

Escobar (9-3) gave up five hits in eight innings, but only two hits through seven. He was allowed to finish the eighth, in which he gave up a one-out double to Xavier Nady and run-scoring single to Ronny Paulino. Another hit and a walk brought Duffy to the plate with the bases full. When Escobar got out of the inning, though, the moment rivaled any he has had in baseball.

“I’ve had some special moments, but tonight was special,” said Escobar, who had a long walk back to the third base dugout before tipping his cap to the crowd. “I got in a tough spot right there, and to make that play, it wasn’t an easy play, and the way they reacted, they gave me good support for the way I threw.

“On the field, it got very loud. I got goose bumps on my body.”

He walked two and struck out four, lowering his earned-run average to 2.81.

Dustin Moseley pitched the ninth inning.

“This might be the best stretch Kelvim has been on in a long time,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He pitched great baseball for us a couple years ago as a starter, didn’t get any run support. I think you can see, now that he’s getting some run support, you’re seeing what he can do. He’s one of the top pitchers in our league and worthy of All-Star consideration, and I hope he gets a shot there.”

Escobar was 11-12 in 2004 with a 3.93 ERA, 11-14 and 3.61 last year.

The Angels got another productive night from their offense. They have had 10 or more hits in 13 of the last 17 games, and have had 17 or more hits in seven of those games.

“It’s great to see guys getting on base and the situational hitting come alive because that’s fueled the turnaround since the first couple weeks of the season,” Scioscia said.

Guerrero’s two-run shot over the left field wall gave him 14 for the season along with 68 runs batted in, third in the league. He and Chone Figgins had three hits.

The Angels, who got six hits from Figgins on Monday and four from Reggie Willits on Friday, got four more hits from the No. 5 spot in the lineup: Gary Matthews Jr. had two hits before leaving the game because of a tight hamstring, a “very, very low-grade” injury, he said, and then Nathan Haynes had two hits as a replacement.

Scioscia said Matthews wouldn’t play today.

Seven players had at least two hits, including Willits, Howie Kendrick and Morales. Kendrick also scored three runs and had two runs batted in.

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martin.henderson@latimes.com