Angels’ rally really hits spot

Just when it appeared as if the Angels were on their way to another ho-hum defeat Wednesday night at Angel Stadium, a couple of rockets soared through the evening air.

And thankfully for the Angels, these were more than just decorative blasts from the rock formation beyond center field.

Kendry Morales started the power play with a two-run homer to right in the seventh inning and Gary Matthews Jr. added a go-ahead solo shot to a nearby spot in the eighth to lift the Angels to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Cleveland Indians.

“There were some things we didn’t do well, and the home runs made up for it and wiped the slate clean,” said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team was hitless in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position.

The way onetime Angel Paul Byrd was mowing down his former team through the first six innings, it seemed as if the Angels were destined for a fourth consecutive loss.

But then Erick Aybar hit a high chopper to the right side of the pitcher’s mound leading off the seventh for an infield single. Byrd fell behind 2-and-0 on Morales and decided to come after him with a fastball.

Morales sent the pitch into the stands in right-center field for his first homer since last July 3 against Seattle.

“I was sitting on the fastball,” Morales said through an interpreter. “I was hoping to put a good swing on it and I did.”

Said Byrd: “I tried to throw him a fastball away, but I pulled it a little bit and it ended up in, and that’s his favorite spot.”

In the eighth, leadoff hitter Matthews hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Fernando Cabrera over the right-field fence for his third homer, prompting Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez to furiously warm up in the bullpen before setting down the Indians in order in the ninth for his 11th save.

Scioscia said he used Morales at designated hitter instead of Shea Hillenbrand (who has six hits in his last 39 at-bats) because he liked the way Morales matched up against Byrd and wanted to give Hillenbrand “a chance to catch his breath.”

Angels starter Jered Weaver was solid for all but the first of his six innings, when the Indians jumped on him for two runs. He worked himself out of a one-out bases-loaded jam in the sixth, striking out Kelly Shoppach and Josh Barfield to preserve the Angels’ 2-0 deficit.

“I knew I had to make some big pitches with those guys coming up,” said Weaver, who emphatically pumped his glove after striking out Barfield looking on a full-count breaking ball. “Luckily, it came out the way it did.”

The Indians scored their runs with a little help from a couple of Angels defenders.

With one out in the first, left fielder Reggie Willits attempted to make a sliding catch of Casey Blake’s sinking liner, but the ball bounced before hitting his glove and caromed toward the left-field corner for a double.

Travis Hafner then reached base on catcher’s interference when his bat nicked catcher Mike Napoli’s glove, and Victor Martinez stroked a run-scoring single to right. Jhonny Peralta later crushed an RBI double off the wall in left-center to make it 2-0.

ben.bolch@latimes.com